- Harry Sassounian
Harry M. Sassounian is currently serving a life sentence for the
1982 assassination of Turkish Consul General Kemal Arikan.The jury determined that Sassounian, an Armenian immigrant formerly of
Pasadena, California , shot Arikan to death, on January 28, 1982 at 9:40am, and particularly that he singled out the victim because of the victim's nationality. [ [http://online.ceb.com/calcases/CA3/182CA3d361.htm PEOPLE v. SASSOUNIAN (1986) 182 CA3d 361] ] Arikan was gunned down in his car by two gunmen while waiting at a red light on the intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and Comstock Street in the Westwood area of Los Angeles. PresidentRonald Reagan condemned the murder as "an apparent act of terrorism". [ [http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=42820 Ronald Reagan. Statement on the Assassination of Turkish Consul General Kemal Arikan, January 28th, 1982] ]Sassounian, hailing from a family of Lebanese Armenian emigres, was identified by witnesses as one of the two gunmen. During the trial, the prosecutors indicated that Sassounian "was motivated to kill Arikan by vengeance for the Ottoman Empire’s genocide of an estimated million Armenians between 1915 and 1923." Sassounian was sentenced to life in prison; because the jury determined that the killing targeted Arikan based on his nationality, Sassounian was given no chance of
parole . [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9904E0D61639F935A25755C0A962948260 Assassin Gets Life Term]In 2002, prosecutors agreed to drop the so-called "national origin" special circumstance of the case, making Sassounian eligible for parole, in exchange for his admitting his guilt and formally apologizing. [ [http://www.metnews.com/articles/sass102102.htm Lorelei Laird. "Sassounian Gets Life With Parole for Assassination in Sentencing Deal", "Metropolitan News-Enterprise", p. 1, Monday, October 21, 2002] ] “I participated in the murder of Kemal Arikan,” Sassounian read aloud from a letter detailing the plea bargain. “I renounce the use of terrorist tactics to achieve political goals. I regret the suffering of the Arikan family.” [ [http://www.metnews.com/articles/sass102102.htm Lorelei Laird. "Sassounian Gets Life With Parole for Assassination in Sentencing Deal", "Metropolitan News-Enterprise", p. 1, Monday, October 21, 2002] ]
See also
*
Anti-Turkism
*List of Turkish diplomats Notes
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