A Turkish man sentenced to life in prison for pushing his pregnant wife to her death off a famed 1,000-foot cliff for a life insurance policy payout was set free after only six years, sparking intense backlash.
Hakan Aysal was freed from a high-security prison as Turkey’s Supreme Court’s Criminal General Assembly reviews an appeal on the convicted killer’s lifetime sentence for the 2018 death of his wife, Semra Aysal, Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyet reported Friday.
“My client’s six years of unjust imprisonment, approximately four of which he spent in solitary confinement, has come to an end,” Aysal’s lawyer said, according to the outlet.
Aysal, 45, was serving an aggravated life imprisonment sentence for the premeditated killing of his 32-year-old wife, whom he shoved off the scenic Butterfly Valley cliff after taking selfies together.
Aysal was convicted in October 2022.
Aysal’s lawyers and Supreme Court Chief Prosecutor Ömer Taş claimed there was a lack of sufficient, convincing evidence to convict the killer husband.
Turkish prosecutors had argued that Aysal shoved his wife, who was seven months pregnant with the couple’s child, while they were at the popular destination near the city of Muğla in southwestern Turkey.
Prosecutors told the court that Aysal had taken out a $25,000 accident insurance policy in his wife’s name, making himself the sole beneficiary and collecting the funds immediately after her death.
Aysal – who once attempted to enter a plea of insanity – has maintained his innocence, claiming he never pushed his wife and instead she had disappeared after he turned his back on her for a second.
A witness, who had recorded a video capturing the final moments of Semra Aysal on the cliff, said the husband had appeared “unusually calm” after the incident.
“We even joked, ‘Either this man will throw the woman off or the woman will throw the man.’ There was no interaction between them,’” witness Recep Sahin told police after he shared the footage with them.
Pro-women rights groups were outraged following the court’s decision to release Aysal as they review his appeal.
“The decision is extremely worrying, not only for this case but also in terms of the evaluation of evidence in femicide cases and the debates surrounding impunity,” lawyer Hediye Gökçe Baykal told Cumhuriyet.
The women’s wing of the New Party, Turkey’s social democratic political faction, called for justice for both Semra Aysal and her unborn child.
“A woman and her seven-month-old unborn baby lost their lives. The defendant, who received an aggravated life sentence, is now free,” the party wrote, according to the outlet.
“The Supreme Court has issued a release order for Hakan Aysal, who was sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment for being responsible for the death of his wife, Semra Aysal, in Muğla. We ask: How will accountability be provided for the deaths of Semra and her unborn baby?” the group questioned.
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