Hrant Dink's assassin released on parole
Ogun Samast, the convicted murderer of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, was released on parole on Wednesday, Turkish Minute reported.
The 52-year-old Dink, editor-in-chief of the Turkish-Armenian bilingual Agos weekly, was shot dead with two bullets to the head outside the newspaper’s headquarters in central İstanbul on Jan. 19, 2007 by Samast, then a-17-year-old jobless high school dropout.
Samast was arrested the following day.
After serving 16 years and 10 months, Samast was released from Turkey’s western Bolu province’s F Type Prison.
In June Turkey’s Supreme Court of Appeals upheld certain acquittals while overturning other verdicts in the trial of 76 defendants, primarily public officials, in connection with Dink’s assassination.
The verdict handed down on March 26, 2021 by the İstanbul 14th High Criminal Court included 33 acquittals and 27 convictions.