Posted on 01/08/2006 1:20:19 PM PST by Theoden
ANKARA, Turkey — A court has approved the release from prison the man who shot Pope John Paul II in 1981, saying he completed his sentence for crimes he committed in Turkey, the semiofficial Anatolia news agency reported Sunday.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Agca, 46, was expected to be released as early as Monday. Anatolia said he was expected to be immediately enlisted by the military for obligatory service, Anatolia said.
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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.
I don'y often post, so if there is anything wrong with the format or posting rules, it is my fault. Thanks!
Nothing wrong with the format, but FoxNews like almost all MSM sources only report half the story regarding Muhammed Agca. It has been pretty evident for the last 20 years or so that Agca was a paid killer used by the Bulgarian Security Agency, which in turn was run by the Soviets (ie KGB).
The story has been discussed frequently on FreeRepublic, for instance these links:
Bulgaria "Misled" Italy on Pope Would-be Killer
Crime of the Century (The plot to kill the pope: Willful CIA & MSM bungling)
Actually, an Italian court freed a number of Bulgarians suspected of having been involved in the murder attempt due to lack of evidence regarding those specific persons. However, in the court's judgment it stood clear that the evidence presented had convinced the court that Bulgaria (and Soviet) was behind the assassination attempt. You can ind more on the story by "googling" for M Agca and Claire Sterling (an American journalist living in Italy at the time who started to unravel this whole story).
Mehmet was a busy guy robberies here murders there
but you know in Islam this seems to be the norm.
Its logical that the Turks would let him go after
all he was following the Quaran.
I think Pope John Paul II would agree with this.
I understand what you are saying. I did not bother checking out the story, I just got home and started browsing different news sites and I saw this headline, and I posted it immediatly.
As for the Italian criminal justice system, I just don't get it. They are always going after the wrong people, and are involved with a lot of cases that they should not be getting involved in. I hope they get themselves straightened out before Islam does it for them.
You may be right in general, but this time they did what they should and could. Those Bulgarians were most probably involved in the plot but the Bulgarian authorities did not (for obvious reasons) divulge the truth. However, the Italian magistrates did manage to dig up more material than the CIA did - or was allowed to do. The MSM and the leftists did everything in their power to scotch this story.
Catholics everywhere should be outraged
Maybe he and Hinckley can form the "failed assians group"....
What is it with this catch-n-release policy.....
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