After more than 29 years behind bars, Mehmet Ali Agca, 52 years old Turkish assassin who shot and wounded Pope John Paul II on May 13, 1981, was released from prison on Monday January 18, 2010.
On the day the Pope was shot, Agca with his accomplices was sitting and writing postcards in St. Peter’s Square. They waited until the Pope finally arrived. Agca immediately fired four shots as Pope rode in an open car. Two bullets lodged in Pope’s lower intestine and the others hitting his left hand and right arm. The Pope spent 6 hours in operating room and was able to survive.
Few minutes after the attack, Agca was arrested and was sentenced to 19 years in prison. Four days after the incident, while pope is still in the Gemelli hospital, he announced that he had forgiven Agca.
On December 27, 1983, it was reported that Pope John Paul II visited Agca in prison and forgave him in person. And in the year 2000, he was pardoned by President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi at the Pope’s request but he was deported back to Turkey where he served another sentence for the murder of Abdi Ipekci, editor-in-chief of Turkish daily newspaper called Milliyet. He killed Ipekci two years before he shot the Pope but he was able to escape with the help of the Grey Wolves and fled to Bulgaria.
Agca never revealed the reason why he attempted to kill the Pope. According to a report yesterday, Agca is willing to tell the whole story but he wanted a huge sum of money in return.
PHOTO CREDIT: AFP / lexpress.fr
Topics: Abdi Ipekci, Agca, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, Mehmet Ali Agca, Milliyet, murder, news, pope, Pope John Paul II, Turkey, Vatican
