Hakan Aysal has been released from prison by a decision of the Criminal General Assembly of Turkey’s Supreme Court while his appeal against an aggravated life sentence for the death of his pregnant wife, Semra Aysal, is under review.
The incident occurred on June 19, 2018, in Butterfly Valley in Fethiye, Muğla province. Semra Aysal, who was seven months pregnant, died after falling from a cliff about 300 meters high. Her unborn baby also did not survive.
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Prosecutors accused Hakan Aysal of deliberately pushing his wife off the cliff when the couple had gone out to take photographs. Investigators also found that he had taken out a life insurance policy on her worth 400,000 Turkish lira shortly before the incident.
At the end of the investigation and trial, Aysal was found guilty of the premeditated murder of a close family member and sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment. After he spent about six years in pretrial detention, the Supreme Court ordered his release and overturned the earlier ruling while reviewing his appeal.
His lawyer, Mehmet Buğra Çiçek, said his client had not committed intentional murder and interpreted the release as a sign that the previous conviction would be overturned. The case remains under judicial review, so Aysal’s release from prison does not amount to a final acquittal.
