California Parole Board Denies Parole to JCAG Terrorist Hampig "Harry" Sassounian

Sassounian, San Quentin Inmate C88440, was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment for the assassination of Los Angeles Turkish Consul General Kemal Arikan on January 28, 1982, as Mr. Arikan was in his car waiting at a traffic signal.  Sassounian and crime partner, Krikor Saliba, shot Mr. Arikan 14 times in the chest and head. The Justice Commandos of the Armenian Genocide (JCAG), the militant wing of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF), an ultra nationalist Armenian political party, claimed responsibility.  Saliba fled to Lebanon, while Sassounian was arrested hours after the assassination.  After a two-month trial prosecuted by District Attorney Lael Rubin, a jury convicted Sassounian and committed him to prison on June 29, 1984. Sassounian is incarcerated at San Quentin Prison, which is a maximum security facility where notable assassins have been inmates: Sirhan Sirhan who assassinated Robert F. Kennedy and Jang In-hwan who assassinated American diplomat Durham Stevens.

On February 5, 2015, the Parole Board set the next parole eligibility hearing for 2018, concluding that Sassounian has not come to terms with his crime.  The Commissioners observed that while Sassounian claims to support peace and nonviolence: (1) he has expressed militancy in Armenian publications such as the Armenian military magazine, Hay Zinyor; (2) he has done nothing in the public forum to denounce his heinous crime or show remorse, let alone correct reports in Armenian publications that refer to him as a "Hero of Holy War"; (3) he has continued to deny any connection to the JCAG and ARF and to conceal his sources of criminal support; (4) he has continued to conceal a third co-conspirator; and, (5) he has not offered to pay reparations to the Turkish Republic and the Arikan family.
 
The Parole Board expressed that there was nothing Sassounian can do to bring back Mr. Arikan, and that he took away a husband and a father forever, just because he wanted to silence Mr. Arikan for disagreeing with the Orthodox Armenian perspective of history.  "This was an assassination; a crime against a public officer is a crime against the public", concluded the Parole Board.