The Young Man Who Assassinated Hrant Dink has Been Released Early

Ogün Samast, the young man who assassinated Hrant Dink, has been conditionally released after 16 years of imprisonment, citing "good behavior." Local media reports this development.

Hrant Dink, the 52-year-old editor-in-chief of the Turkish-Armenian weekly newspaper Agos, was shot in the head twice by Samast on January 19, 2007, near the newspaper's headquarters in central Istanbul. Samast was arrested the following day.

After serving 16 years and 10 months of his sentence, Samast has been released from a type F prison in the western Bolu province of Turkey. In June, Turkey's Supreme Court approved some acquittals while overturning others during the trial of 76 defendants in Dink's murder case, mostly public officials. The verdict issued by the 14th Criminal Court of Istanbul on March 26, 2021, included 33 acquittals and 27 convictions.