Samast's release, Çomak's imprisonment: 'Justice is a widespread rumor only'

"This will be my last Writers in Prison Day as an imprisoned writer. Prisons are no place for writers. Please let's not forget them. Let's keep the solidarity effort constant."

Poet İlhan Sami Çomak, who has been imprisoned for over 29 years, expressed this in a message he sent to Norwegian PEN on November 15, Writers in Prison Day. In an interview with bianet editor Nedim Türfent on the same day, he stated, "I wrote to avoid being confined," and "by taking refuge in poetry and literature, I was able to heal the wounds that opened in my mind and heart."

From the interview, we learn that his first Kurdish book, "Çiyayê Girtî" (Prisoner Mountain), has recently been published. He expresses the excitement and happiness, saying, "I have paid off my small debt to my Kurdish, our beautiful language."

A release in the evening on the same day

Again yesterday, Ogün Samast, who 16 years ago killed another journalist-writer, Hrant Dink, the Editor-in-Chief of the Agos Newspaper published in Turkish and Armenian, by shooting him from behind with a gun in front of the newspaper building in the middle of the street, was released from prison benefiting from the reduction in sentence.

A debate on how justice operates for whom rose inevitably.

Meral Danış Beştaş, Deputy Group Chair of the Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (HEDEP), commented on Samast's release, saying, "The same mindset, power, and mentality that extend the sentences of political prisoners who have completed thirty years, fifteen years, or twenty years in prison, have decided on the release of killers because of good conduct."

The Ministry of Justice stated that Samast's conditional release on November 15, 2023, was carried out in accordance with applicable regulations.

Samast received a sentence of 22 years and 10 months

After killing Hrant Dink, who was facing an intense smear campaign at that time, laden with allegations of insulting Turkish identity, and fleeing the crime scene, Ogün Samast was apprehended the next day at Samsun Bus Terminal. During the process of his arrest, the police and gendarmerie treated him as if he were a hero.

Tried in the Juvenile Heavy Penal Court since he was under 18 at the time of the murder, Samast was sentenced to 22 years and 10 months in prison on July 25, 2011, four years after the crime.

After 16 years and 9 months of detention, Samast was released yesterday evening benefiting from the reduction in sentence.

First death sentence then life sentence at the age of 21

Çomak, who started writing while in prison, was detained in 1994 at the age of 21 while a university student. After 19 days of torture during interrogation, he was arrested on charges of "setting fire to the forest on behalf of the PKK" and "engaging in separatist activities." He was tried in State Security Courts (DGM), and the trial lasted six years. While the charge of arson was dropped, he was sentenced to life imprisonment for being a member of the PKK, organizing Molotov attacks, engaging in armed conflict in Diyarbakır Lice, and attacking a police station.

The life sentence was converted into a death sentence. He started writing while in prison, and he was retried in 2014 and sentenced to life imprisonment again, which was upheld by the Court of Cassation despite no concrete evidence.

Justice and us

Çomak addresses us on Writers in Prison Day with his rebellion against being unjustly imprisoned for over 29 years.

Hrant Dink, a significant intellectual representing the wisdom and conscience of these lands,who served as an immense bridge between the Armenian and Turkish communities was assassinated, and he is not among us for 16 years.

The photograph of his lifeless body lying on the ground, cowardly shot from behind, covered with newspaper pages, has been etched into the memory of this country. The sole of his one shoe had a hole. He was one of us, the laborers of this land.

Ogün Samast, who killed him, was 17 years old that day. He was chosen as someone eligible for a sentence reduction for this act.

Justice is not achieved in this country for any of us until it is established for everyone. It is not applied for anyone when it is not equally applied to everyone.

"No one here sees the essence of justice"

In the interview with Türfent, Çomak also talks about this, "Justice is a widespread rumor only; no one here sees the essence of it. Despite this, I pursued it for years, always searched for it, but never found it," he says.

When asked about his message to the public, he replies, "To friends and the public, I can convey this: They left me in blind wells without stairs, but I always looked at the light, worked towards the light. I express my gratitude to you for your support and not forgetting me." (PE)