http://dwb.newsobserver.com/24hour/world/story/3053646p-11750122c.html
Published: Jan 8, 2006
Modified: Jan 8, 2006 1:04 PM
Report: Man who shot pope to be freed
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) - A court has approved the release of the man who shot Pope John Paul II in 1981, saying he completed his prison term in Turkey, the semiofficial Anatolia news agency reported Sunday.
Mehmet Ali Agca was extradited to Turkey in 2000 after serving almost 20 years in Italy for shooting and wounding the pope in St. Peter's Square in Rome. His motives for the attack remain unclear.
Agca, 46, was expected to be released as early as Monday.
Not to those who understand how the KGB works.
More:
Anatolia said he was expected to be immediately enlisted by the military for obligatory service, Anatolia said.
His lawyer and family said they were not aware of the court decision.
"I'm surprised," his lawyer, Dogan Yildirim, told The Associated Press by telephone. "If its true, justice will finally be served. He has been in prison for so long."
Agca's sister, Fatma Agca, also was surprised.
"We did not hear it," Fatma Agca told the AP from family home in the southeastern city of Malatya. She refused to comment.
Upon his return to Turkey, Agca immediately was sent to prison to serve a 10-year sentence for murdering Turkish journalist Abdi Ipekci in 1979. He was separately sentenced to seven years and four months for two robberies in Turkey the same year.
An Istanbul court ruled in 2004 that Agca should only serve the longest sentence _ his conviction for killing Ipekci. That 10-year sentence was changed twice because of new Turkish laws.
Agca served less than six months in Turkish prison in 1979 for killing Ipekci before he escaped, resurfacing in 1981 in Rome.
Given that earlier time served, the prison asked a court for permission to release Agca. The court ruled that Agca could now be freed this week, Anatolia said.
Agca reportedly identified with the Gray Wolves, a far right-wing militant group that fought street battles against leftists in the 1970s. He first confessed to killing Ipekci, one of the country's most prominent left-wing newspaper columnists, but later retracted his statements.
hmmm...could we get a twofer contract on him and that muzzslime that killed navyman Robert Steitham?
The AP quotes court officials that the perp completed his sentence but not that he is no longer considered a threat to society (read: most especially the current pope).
It also says his motives remain unclear.
That must reassure a lot of folks.
Reminds me of the Eric Clapton song.
"I shot the Pontiff..."
Turkey=Muslim+Europeanesque. So this is not unexpected.
"Mehmet Ali Agca was extradited to Turkey in 2000 after serving almost 20 years in Italy for shooting and wounding the pope in St. Peter's Square in Rome. His motives for the attack remain unclear."
Twenty years may be above average in Italy for attempted murder... but would be assasins should get the death penalty.