PodcastErdoğan pardons man who killed two Felicity Party members on election day
President Erdoğan pardoned Hacı Sülük, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for killing two election officials from the Islamist opposition Felicity Party at the ballot box during the 2019 local elections.
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President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on May 17 pardoned Hacı Sülük, one of the attackers who killed Hasan Aktaş ve İlyas Aktaş, two election officials from the Islamist opposition Felicity Party during the 2019 local elections.
A Turkish court sentenced Sülük to life imprisonment for his involvement in the attack in the Pütürge district of Malatya province which resulted in the deaths of two ballot box attendants from the Felicity Party, with one person wounded during the voting process.
Hacı Sülük is also the father of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Pütürge Mayor Mikail Sülük. He was sentenced to life imprisonment twice for "intentional killing" together with one of his sons and two nephews.
Erdoğan pardoned 67-year-old Sülük's sentence on the grounds of a Forensic Medicine Institution report stating that he was in a "state of permanent illness and old age.”
On the same day, Erdoğan also pardoned seven generals convicted for the 1997 "postmodern coup."
Article 104 of the Constitution authorizes the president to grant pardon in cases of "permanent illness, disability and old age."
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