Harry M. Sassounian (Armenian: Հարրի Մ. Սասունեան, born January 1, 1963), also known as Hampig Sassounian (Armenian: Համբիկ Սասունեան), is an American citizen involved in the 1982 assassination of Turkish Consul General Kemal Arıkan in Los Angeles. He was identified as one of two gunmen by witnesses. Governor Gavin Newsom and Sassounian himself attributed the killing to the open denial of the Armenian genocide by the Turkish government. Previously, the jury had established that Arıkan was targeted because of his nationality.^[1] Sassounian was sentenced to life, but was granted parole 2021. He subsequently moved to Armenia on 29 October 2021.^[2]

Assassination

Arıkan 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. President Ronald Reagan condemned the murder as "an apparent act of terrorism".^[3]

The jury determined that Sassounian had shot Arıkan to death, on January 28, 1982 at 9:40 a.m. Sassounian was sentenced to life in prison. The jury determined that the killing targeted Arıkan based on his nationality, for that reason, Sassounian was given no chance of parole.^[4][5]

His judicial expenses were once paid by Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) using funds raised for this purpose.^[6]

Parole

In 2002, prosecutors agreed to drop the "national origin" special circumstance of the case, making Sassounian eligible for parole, in exchange for his admitting his guilt and formally apologizing.^[7] "I participated in the murder of Kemal Arıkan. I renounce the use of terrorist tactics to achieve political goals. I regret the suffering of the Arıkan family."^[7]

The California Prison Parole Board rejected Sassounian's demands of release in 2006, 2010 and 2013.^{[8][better source needed]} The California Board of Parole granted parole to Sassounian on 14 December 2016.^[9] Turkey's Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the decision of his release and Turkish American groups urged the California Governor to deny parole. California Governor Jerry Brown denied the parole in May 2017, vetoing the board's decision. In a statement, Brown said he believes Sassounian would still pose "an unreasonable danger to society if released," adding that "[t]he killing was a deliberate, planned assassination of a diplomat, plotted at least two weeks in advance."^[10]

Similarly, on 27 December 2019, the California Board of Parole approved the release of Sassounian. California's new governor Gavin Newsom reversed the parole decision on 25 May 2020,^[11] despite a collective plea of the Pan-Armenian Council of the Western United States asking Newsom for the release of Sassounian.^[12][13]

Governor Newsom eventually granted Sassounian's release. In his 2020 executive report, he wrote that he had considered the circumstances that shaped Sassounian's life when determining whether he should be paroled. The governor pointed to "significant challenges in his family of origin, including the consequences of intergenerational trauma, poverty, and instability resulting from the Armenian genocide in which Mr. Sassounian’s family members were killed."^[1]

Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed regret thereafter: "Attacking a diplomat is not only a grave crime against a particular individual, it is also an attack on diplomacy itself. To ensure the safety of the dedicated U.S. diplomats serving around the world, it has been the longstanding position of the United States to advocate that those who assassinate diplomats receive the maximum sentence possible, and that they serve those sentences without parole or early release."^[14]

On the October 29, 2021, the ARF Western Region informed the public that Sassounian has arrived in Armenia, implying that he is free.^[15][2]

Personal life

Sassounian was born on January 1, 1963 in Beirut, Lebanon. He hails from a family of Lebanese Armenian émigrés.

Notes