Turkey’s Ministry of Justice said on Thursday that the parole of Ogun Samast – killer of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink in 2007 – for “good behaviour”, is legal.
“His sentence was executed in accordance with the general provisions of Law No. 5275,” the ministry said in a statement. It underlined that he had requested transfer to an open prison five times and probation two times.
Dink, editor of the bilingual Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos and a globally known Armenian figure, was shot dead in broad daylight as he left his Istanbul office in January 2007.
Samast, a Turkish ultra-nationalist, was only 17 years old when he murdered the journalist. He was sentenced by a juvenile court to life in jail, reduced to 22 years and 10 months due to his young age.
Journalists, unions and the opposition expressed outrage over the early release.
“While the darkness behind the murder of journalist Hrant Dink is still unclear, his murderer Ogün Samast is released on conditional release due to good behaviour. Journalists are in prison, the hitmen who murdered them are free!,” the Journalists’ Union of Turkey said on Wednesday.
The leader of the main opposition Republican People’s Party, Ozgur Ozel, said Samast’s release would “end the conversation” on justice in the country.
“Samast followed, practised and planned and killed Hrant Dink. If he is released today due to good behaviour, we are at the end of the conversation,” Ozel said.
The co-chair of the Turkish Human Rights Association, HID, Eren Keskin, also condemned the release.
“This is such a dystopian country! [Kurdish politicians] Gulten Kisanak and Selahattin Demirtas, [human rights activist] Osman Kavala and [parliamentarian] Can Atalay are in jail only for their thoughts, but a murderer is free!” he said.
Samast’s connections with nationalist groups have been in question since the murder. After his detention in 2007, some security officers posed with Samast along with Turkish flags, praising his action in killing an Armenian.
Dink’s newspaper Agos claimed that Samast had benefited from a degree of official protection. “There was another file pending at the Supreme Court for Samast. Samast was not convicted of being a member of an organisation. Dink family lawyers objected .. Afterwards, the Court also sentenced Samast to membership in an organisation. However, the Supreme Court of Appeals evaluated Samast’s membership of the organisation within the scope of Article 220 and placed it within the statute of limitations,” Agos wrote on Thursday. Thus, Agos said, Samast did not receive any additional punishment for being a member of an organisation.
Two other ultra-nationalists Yasin Hayal and Erhan Tuncel were also sentenced for the murder. Hayal was sentenced to life in prison and 14 years and 22 months. Tuncel was sentenced to 96 years in prison.
Source : BalkanInsight
