Prison sentence of man who killed his wife reduced by Turkish court

A Turkish court reduced the prison sentence of a man who beat his wife to death a year ago for "good conduct".

The man named Mahmut Muhammet Ozyer had severely beaten his 27-year-old wife Fatime Gul who recently gave birth, and she died in the hospital seven days later despite efforts by doctors to save her.

The prosecution accused the man of "deliberate killing," and called for him to be punished with aggravated life imprisonment.

The man asked for acquittal, claiming that he only slapped his wife twice, causing her to fall from the stretcher.

The court eventually sentenced him to 25 year in prison with a reduction based on article 62 of the Turkish Penal Law.

The article says that a sentence of life imprisonment can be reduced to 25 years provided that judges observe a particular reason that will justify it.

A convict can be released on probation after he served half way through his prison sentence, according to Turkish laws.

Reductions of prison sentences by Turkish courts in femicide cases are strongly criticized in Turkey because of the injustice, and also for the reason that such reductions further exacerbate violence against women. The reductions are issued mostly for "good conduct" or "unjust provocation."

Journalist Aytug Ozcolak recently published a list of femicide cases in which the prison sentence of the perpetrators were reduced by Turkish courts.