English Translation
Bihop Luigi Padovese, the apostolic vicar in Anatolia and president of the Turkish bishops' conference, was stabbed in his house in Iskenderun, South-East Turkey, near the Syrian border, on 06/03/2010, and beheaded outside. Bihop Luigi Padovese cried for help before he died. The murderer, later identified as Murat Altun, 26, shouted "Allah Akbar!". Murat Altun was his driver and a radical Islamist. Bihop Luigi Padovese funeral took place, on Monday 06/07/2010, at 16:00 local time.
The doctors who performed the autopsy reveal that Mgr. Padovese had knife wounds all over his body, but especially in the heart (at least 8). His head was almost completely detached from his neck, attached to his body by only the skin of the back of the neck.
The alleged insanity of the murderer is now to be excluded. There is no medical certificate to prove it. Murat Altun accuses the dead bishop of being a homosexual. Turkish minister of justice condemns the murder and promises to shed light on the incident. new details have emerged on the dynamics and motives of the killing that has prostrated the Turkish Church.
Witnesses said they heard the bishop cry out for help. But more importantly, is that they heard screams of Murat Altun immediately after the murder. According to these sources, he climbed on the roof of the house shouted: "I killed the great Satan! Allah Akbar! ".
This call coincides perfectly with the idea of beheading and correlates with the murders of ultranationalist groups and Islamic fundamentalists who apparently want to eliminate Christians from Turkey.
Facing these new chilling details, the statements by the Turkish government and the first views expressed by the Vatican need to be revised. They had claimed, initially, that the killing did not have political or religious implications.
The alleged insanity of Murat Altun, who for more than four years lived next to the bishop is now indefensible. Ercan Eris, the church's lawyer, argues that the murderer can not become depressed in a day and that there is no medical report which declares that.
According to police sources, it seems that Murat Altun is offering the police a new justification for his action: Bihop Luigi Padovese was a homosexual and he (Murat Altun) was the victim, "forced to suffer abuse." The killing of the bishop was not martyrdom, but an act of "legitimate defense".
This is not the first time that the Catholic Church in Turkey is the subject of threats, violence and death. In 2006, a Fidei Donum priest, Fr Andrea Santoro, was assassinated in Trabzon (see also - PERSECUTIONS).
Turkey under the Islamic PM Tayyip Erdogan is going, nowadays, through Islamic radicalization, which has a deep influence on the Turkish society (see -Turkish Radicalization). Turkish authorities hinted toward an ephemeral organization operating in Turkey, with a social and national orientation, "Deep State" as being behind the brutal beheading.
