"Ayşe Paşalı Decision - the Yield of Women's Struggle"

The Court of Appeals 1^st Criminal Chamber unanimously upheld the life sentence with no possibility of parole handed down to İstikbal Yetkin on charges of "premeditated murder" of his former wife Ayşe Paşalı.

The defence lawyers previously filed an appeal and claimed that the murder had not been planned. They also requested a mitigation of punishment for unjust provocation. The appeal was fully dismissed.

Selin Çalışkan from the Platform to Stop Women Murders appreciated the decision of the Ayşe Paşalı trial that became a symbol for the struggle against violence against women. She said that the decision represented a precedent for many other similar cases.

Çalışkan explained, "In this sort of cases, unfortunately, we see that a mitigation of punishment is applied very often when the murderer says 'I love my wife and I regret'. The name of Ayşe Paşalı became a symbol. It is a very positive result that the life sentence without the possibility for parole handed down to the murderer was upheld unanimously".

"We particularly attach great importance to the fact that such a decision was the result of this trial. This decision is the yield of the struggle against violence against women. We have many other cases ahead of us", Çalışkan indicated.

What happened?

Ayşe Paşalı divorced her husband because he had treated her violently. Subsequently, she applied to court for protection because she was receiving death threats of her former husband. Her request for protection was rejected because she was divorced of the man who threatened her. On 17 December 2010, her former husband İstikbal Yetkin stabbed Ayşe Paşalı to death. (ÇT/VK)