Soghomon Tehlirian

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Soghomon Tehlirian

Soghomon Tehlirian (Armenian: Սողոմոն Թեհլերյան) (April 2, 1897 – May 23, 1960) was a native of Erzincan, an Armenian Evangelical (Protestant) and Armenian Genocide survivor. He assassinated the 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. He was part of the Dashnak organization in Armenia.

1 Trial
2 Film adaptation
3 Further reading
4 External links

[edit] Trial

Main article: Trial of Soghomon Tehlirian

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] Film adaptation

Tehlirian's trial was adapted in the Turkish film Blood on the Wall although it greatly differed and presents a fictional account of the actual trial. Near the end of the movie, Tehlirian is shown confessing, prior to moment the jury is sent to deliberate the case, before the court that he had killed an innocent man, that is, Talat. After he breaks down in tears, the film shows his mother, who is shown to have survived the Genocide, walking across the courtroom and comforting him; the jury, however, does find him not guilty although the film also disputes the factual evidence that was used by Tehlirian's defense team.^{[citation needed]}