Bishop’s driver charged with murder, probe ongoing

The bishop was attacked outside his home in the southern Mediterranean port city of İskenderun on Thursday afternoon. Police launched an investigation into the incident, which resulted in the capture of Altun’s driver.

Altun reportedly suffers from serious depression and was pronounced mentally unsound by the İskenderun State Hospital psychiatry department last week. Italian news agency ANSA reported that an Italian Franciscan nun, Sister Eleonora de Stefano, spoke with Padovese on the phone less than an hour before his murder. She said the bishop had explained he was trying to help the driver deal with his problems.

Hatay Governor Mehmet Celalettin Lekesiz said the investigation into the murder was ongoing. Officials believe the murder not to be politically motivated.

Altun’s lawyer, Cihan Önal, ruled out any political motive for the killing, emphasizing that his client had been suffering from psychological problems for some time. “My client confessed to every detail about the killing. He said he carried out the attack by himself and that he did not receive aid or instruction from anyone,” the lawyer said. Önal says that Altun had been working as Padovese’s driver for three or four years, but declined to provide any further details, citing client confidentiality. During the police interrogation, Altun reportedly said he killed the bishop upon receiving a revelation from God.

The lawyer said his client testified in that way because he was not mentally sound. “He has problems. He was undergoing psychological treatment. He told police he received a revelation. He said that because he has mental problems,” Önal commented. The attorney also denied media claims that his client became a Christian after beginning to work as the bishop’s driver. “My client is a Muslim,” he said.

Hatay police are now looking into claims that the Padovese murder could have links to previous killings of Christians in Turkey, including the murder of Catholic priest Father Andrea Santoro in Trabzon and three Christian missionaries in Malatya. The priest was stabbed to death in his church by a teenager in the northern Black Sea port city of Trabzon on Feb. 5, 2006. The Malatya missionaries were brutally murdered in April 2007, bound to chairs, tortured and stabbed at the Zirve Publishing House before their throats were slit. The publishing house printed Bibles and Christian literature.

The bishop’s remains were sent to his Hatay home after an autopsy. Padovese will be buried following a service at a Catholic church in the city today.

Suspect’s mother saddened by bishop’s death, not son’s arrest

Murat Altun’s mother has said she was saddened by the death of Bishop Luigi Padovese, not by the arrest of her son who was charged with murder on Friday after the bishop was found stabbed to death in the southern province of Hatay.

 “I am saddened to learn that the bishop passed away, but not to learn that my son was sent to jail,” remarked Sultan Altun. Padovese, the pope’s apostolic vicar in Anatolia, was found dead at his house in Hatay on Thursday. The bishop’s driver, Murat Altun, was charged with murder yesterday and sent to prison.

 “My son used to love the bishop. He complied with all his orders and directives. He respected him very much,” said Sultan Altun, addressing members of the press in tears. She said her son saw Padovese as his father but was suffering from psychological problems. 

 “He’d been having severe psychological problems for the past two months. His problems were obvious. He had stayed in the church for the past week. I called him to invite him back to our house, but he refused, saying he was comfortable at the church. He was resting at home two days ago when the bishop called him and asked him to pick him up for a walk. My son said he was tired, but the bishop insisted. I talked with the bishop, and he said he would take my son for a walk and lunch. I am in a state of deep grief. I am sorry for the deceased bishop,” Sultan Altun said. Sources said Altun’s uncle Kudbettin Altun is also employed at Padovese’s church.