YEREVAN, APRIL 6, ARMENPRESS. Two Turkish-American men, arrested for the 2017 attacks on peaceful protests of Armenians, Greeks and Kurds on the occasion of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Washington visit, have been sentenced to a year and a day in prison, The Washigton Times reports.

Sinan Narin, 45 of McLean, Virginia, and Eyup Yildirim, 50, of Manchester, New Jersey, have been in custody since being arrested in June. To quickly resolve the issue, their lawyers and the U.S. attorney agreed to the one-year-and-a-day sentence for assault and conspiracy, with credit for time already served.

Narin and Yildrim also were sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $100 to a crime victims fund.

The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) condemned a Washington D.C. Superior Court ruling which gave light sentences to two of the Turkish American attackers. “This decision should worry every American,” said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. “Today’s light sentences – on top of the Administration dropping most charges and failing to seek any extraditions of Erdogan’s bodyguards – threatens to chill the free exercise of the First Amendment rights of Americans of Armenian or any other heritage to protest the actions of a foreign government.”

“As Americans, it’s our right to raise our voices on any issue – foreign or domestic – free from fear of violent attack, and confident that those who violate our rights will be brought to justice. Sadly, that has not been the case in response to Erdogan’s open export of his regime’s violence to the streets of Washington, D.C.”, he said.

It’s worth mentioning that just moments after the hearing, supporters of the two convicted felons openly (on video) flashed the "Grey Wolves" sign in front of the victims and their friends/families.

Supporters of Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan have attacked peaceful protesters in Washington D.C. The demonstration, which began at Lafayette Square at noon, was organized by a coalition of organizations, including the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) and the American Hellenic Council. Several different groups, which included representatives from the Armenian, Greek, Kurdish, and Assyrian communities, participated in the protest, while President Erdogan met with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House. Later it was reported that Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s security detail were the attackers of the peaceful protest.

English –translator/editor: Aneta Harutyunyan