Hrant Dink’s murderer completes his time in prison, but not to be released yet

ISTANBUL

Ogün Samast, who murdered Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink in 2007, completed his prison sentence given by the court after the assassination, according to Nedim Şener, a columnist for daily Hürriyet.

However, he will not be released on the grounds that he was convicted of another crime during his time in prison.

Samast was sentenced to another four and a half years in prison as he pulled a knife at the guards in a fight two years ago at a maximum-security prison in the northwestern province of Kocaeli, according to reports.

Samast, who was then a 17-year-old jobless high-school dropout, confessed to the killing and was sentenced to almost 23 years in jail back in the year 2011.

However, he was imprisoned for 15 years and 2 months instead, cutting to two-third of the serving period for the crime committed, according to Turkish law on criminal execution.

Şener also reminded that the case of the Fethullah Terrorist Organization [FETÖ], in which public officials were tried for the murder of Dink, continues.

Şener wrote that if the Supreme Court considered this detail and reversed the decision, Samast’s retrial could be in question.

“Everyone, including the murderer [Samast], can again be tried for ‘membership of a terrorist organization,’ in this way,” he wrote.

Relatives and followers of the case have claimed government officials, police, military and intelligence personnel to have played a role in Dink’s murder by neglecting their duty to protect the journalist.
It is alleged that the mentioned public officials are also affiliated with FETÖ organization.

Dink, the editor-in-chief of the Istanbul-based Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos, was shot dead at the age of 52 in broad daylight by an ultranationalist outside his office in central Istanbul on Jan. 19, 2007.

The journalist also had been prosecuted and convicted of denigrating “Turkishness” in 2006.