Turkey releases mafia leader Alaattin Çakıcı with ties to nationalist party from prison

Mafia leader Alaattin Çakıcı, whose ties to the deep state and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) are known, was released from prison on April 16 as part of a bill that allows some 90,000 convicts and arrestees to be freed in a bid to ease overcrowding in jails in the face of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Turkey has released a mafia leader from prison as part of a bill that allows some 90,000 convicts and arrestees to be freed in a bid to ease overcrowding in jails in the face of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Alaattin Çakıcı, who had been in jail for 16 years, was released from the Sincan Prison in the capital Ankara early on April 16 despite being convicted of numerous well-known crimes.

Çakıcı was born into an ultra-nationalist family in the Black Sea province of Trabzon in 1953.

Çakıcı was arrested for the first time after the 1980 coup and was accused of killing 41 people from leftist organizations. He was found guilty, but was released in 1982 over lack of evidence.