Turkish media reports question insanity of Bishop Padovese’s killer

Ankara, Turkey, Jun 7, 2010 / 13:29 pm

While a funeral for Bishop Luigi Padovese, Apostolic Vicar of Anatolia was being held in Iskenderun, Turkey today, new reports from the Turkish media are questioning the alleged insanity of Murat Altun, the personal driver and murderer of the Italian-born bishop.

Altun, 26, who had been working as an assistant and driver to Bishop Padovese for four years, was arraigned last Friday, accused of being the sole killer of the Apostolic Vicar of Anatolia.

The first official reports said that Altun killed the bishop during a temporary moment of insanity, a claim that Altun's lawyer confirmed.

Nevertheless, on Monday, the Turkish TV station NTV announced that Altun has admitted that the brutal murder of the bishop—who received more than 25 knife wounds, eight of them in the heart, and had his head almost completely severed from his body—was the action of a "divine inspiration to kill the great Satan."

It was also reported by NTV that Altun shouted “Allah Akbar!” several times after the murder, despite his alleged conversion to Catholicism.

The killer's lawyer insisted on Monday that his client suffers "mental problems," and had finished a psychiatric treatment before the murder; but witnesses contacted by NTV say Altun never showed signs of mental problems during his four years as the bishop's driver.