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Turkish Foreign Minister: We condemn the release of the murderer of the Turkish consul in Los Angeles

The decision of the American authorities to release the murderer of the Turkish consul in Los Angeles, thanks to a conditional release measure, condemns the Turkish Foreign Ministry with a relevant announcement.

«We strongly condemn this decision which deeply hurts the conscience of the Turkish nationThe Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement released last Thursday night.

This “serious decision harms the spirit of cooperation against terrorism”, the ministry also assessed, as broadcast by the Athens News Agency.

Hambik Sassounian, 58 today, He was convicted in 1984 of firing on Turkish diplomat Kemal Arikan while he was parked in a traffic light on January 28, 1982.

Sassounian, an Armenian immigrant living in its suburbs Los Angeles, was initially sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, but a federal court of appeals overturned the first-instance decision.

He had repeatedly called for his conditional release without success so far.

A Los Angeles court judge recently allowed it, and the California governor, who had previously opposed the measure, announced last week that he had decided not to appeal.

In a statement issued yesterday, the US State Department expressed “deep disappointment” over Sassounian’s forthcoming release.

“Attacking a diplomat is not only a serious crime against a person in particular, it is also an attack on the diplomacy itself,” the State Department said in a statement, adding that the United States recommended a “maximum penalty”. the law in the case murder of a diplomat, “without early or conditional release”.

The case comes as Ankara seeks to re-establish relations with Washington, which have been strained since 2016.

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