Turkey’s Court of Appeals upholds Dink killer sentenceMarch 22, 2012 - 12:50 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkey’s Supreme Court of Appeals upheld the prison sentence for Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink’s murderer Ogün Samast on March 21, Hurriyet Daily News reported. A juvenile court in Istanbul had sentenced Samast to 22 years and 10 months in prison last July for the “planned murder of Hrant Dink” and for carrying an “unregistered gun.” However, under the Turkish Penal Code, Samast will not serve the 22 years and 10 months to which he was sentenced, but will be released after completing two thirds of his service. As Samast has already been in jail for the past five years, he will be released from prison by 2022. The juvenile court initially condemned Ogün Samast to life, but reduced the sentence to 21-and-a-half years, on the grounds that he was underage at the time of the murder, before giving him an additional 16 months for possession of an unlicensed weapon. The court also decreased Samast’s 600 Turkish Lira judicial fine to 300 liras. Samast was convicted of killing Dink, the editor-in-chief of the weekly newspaper Agos, who was murdered in front of his newspaper’s office in 2007. Samast defended himself saying he had had a poor education and committed the murder under the influence of others. Top stories Six total incidents have burned 19 old-growth trees. Friday night 8 trees were torched along the beautiful main entrance. The EU does not intend to conduct military exercises with Armenia, Lead Spokesperson for EU Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Peter Stano says. Hikmet Hajiyev has said that there is no place for USAID operation in Azerbaijan any longer. A telephone conversation between Putin and Pashinyan before the CSTO summit is not planned, Peskov says. Partner news | Ucom equips four bus stops in Ijevan with free Wi-Fi Ucom now provides free Wi-Fi coverage in smart bus stops in four communities of Ijevan. Armenia, Russia discuss life extension of Metsamor nuclear plant Issues regarding the extension of life of the 2nd power unit of the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant were discussed in Yerevan. Armenians stage more campaigns against territorial concessions to Azerbaijan Protesters blocked more roads across Armenia on Friday, April 26 in continuing attempts to scuttle territorial concessions to Azerbaijan. Czech-Armenian military cooperation discussed in Yerevan A delegation led by the Director General for the Industrial Cooperation Division of the Ministry of Defence of the Czech Republic visited Armenia. |