Soghomon Tehlirian
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Soghomon Tehlirian (Armenian: Սողոմոն Թեհլերյան) (1897–1960) was a native of Erzincan, an Armenian Evangelical (Protestant) and Armenian Genocide survivor. He assassinated former Grand Vizir Talat Pasha in the Charlottenburg District of Berlin, Germany in broad daylight and in the presence of many witnesses on March 15, 1921 as an act of vengeance for his role in orchestrating the Armenian Genocide. This assassination was a part of the Dashnak Party's Operation Nemesis, in which he played a big role in. He was part of the Dashnak organization in Armenia.
[edit] Trial
Tehlirian was tried and acquitted of all charges by the German court. The trial of Tehlirian was a rather sensationalized event at the time, with Tehlirian being defended by three defence attorneys, including Dr. Kurt Niemeyer, professor of Law at Cologne University.
The trial examined not only Tehlirian’s actions but also Tehlirian's conviction that Talat Pasha was the main author of the Armenian Genocide, based on the Talat Pasha telegrams. The defense attorneys made no attempt to deny the fact that Tehlirian had killed a man, and instead focused on the influence of the Armenian Genocide on Tehlirian's mental state. It took the jury slightly over an hour to render a verdict of "not guilty" on grounds of temporary insanity.
The trial was an important influence on Polish lawyer Raphael Lemkin, who found it interesting it was a crime to kill a man but not an entire people.
[edit] Further reading
- Avakian, Lindy V. (1989). The Cross and the Crescent. USC Press. ISBN 0-943247-06-3.
