Yargıtay finalizes life sentence for man who pushed wife off cliffs in Yalova

The Turkish Court of Cassation (Yargıtay) has finalized the aggravated life imprisonment sentence for Erdal Necip Sözer, who was convicted of murdering his wife, Semiha Sözer. The ruling, issued by the 1st Criminal Chamber, unanimously upheld the verdict and included a specific notation regarding the crime being committed “against a woman.”

The incident occurred on January 24, 2023, in the Altınova district of Yalova. While the defendant initially claimed his wife fell from the cliffs while taking photographs, a 15-month investigation involving specialized gendarmerie teams and academic experts determined she had been pushed from a height of approximately 20 meters.

Key evidence included digital forensics showing the defendant had searched for terms such as “how to push a person” and “how to throw a person” on his computer the day before the incident. The court also rejected his requests for sentence reductions based on good behavior.