A Turkish man convicted of killing his pregnant wife by pushing her from a renowned 1,000-foot cliff has been released after spending just six years behind bars, prompting widespread outrage.
Hakan Aysal was released from a high-security prison while Turkey’s Supreme Court Criminal General Assembly considers an appeal of his aggravated life sentence for the 2018 death of his wife, Semra Aysal, according to Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyet.
“My client’s six years of unjust imprisonment—around four of them in solitary confinement—have come to an end,” Aysal’s attorney said, the outlet reported.
Aysal, 45, had been convicted of deliberately killing his 32-year-old wife after prosecutors said he pushed her from the Butterfly Valley cliff as the couple took photographs together.
He was found guilty in October 2022.
Aysal’s legal team and Supreme Court Chief Prosecutor Ömer Taş argued that the evidence against him was insufficient and did not meet the standard required for a conviction.
Prosecutors alleged that Aysal shoved Semra, who was seven months pregnant with their child, from the popular scenic site near Muğla in southwestern Turkey.
They also told the court that Aysal had purchased a $25,000 accident insurance policy in his wife’s name, listed himself as the sole beneficiary and received the payout soon after her death.
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Aysal, who previously sought to enter an insanity plea, has continued to deny responsibility. He says he did not push his wife and that she vanished after he briefly turned away.
A witness who filmed footage of Semra’s final moments at the cliff told police that Aysal seemed “unusually calm” after she fell.
“We even joked, ‘Either this man will push the woman off or the woman will push the man.’ There was no interaction between them,” witness Recep Sahin said after giving the video to authorities.
Women’s rights organizations condemned the decision to release Aysal while his appeal is under review.
“This decision is deeply troubling—not only because of this case, but also because of how evidence in femicide trials is assessed and the wider discussion about impunity,” attorney Hediye Gökçe Baykal told Cumhuriyet.
The women’s branch of Turkey’s New Party, a social democratic political group, demanded justice for both Semra and her unborn child.
“A woman and her seven-month-old unborn baby lost their lives. The defendant, who had been given an aggravated life sentence, is now free,” the group said, according to the outlet.
“The Supreme Court has ordered the release of Hakan Aysal, who was sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment for responsibility in the death of his wife, Semra Aysal, in Muğla. We ask: How will accountability be secured for the deaths of Semra and her unborn baby?” the group said.
