This whole story is horrible. He kills someone, escapes from jail, tries to kill the pope serves 20 years and they think that is long enough! Now they want him in the military??? OH YES GIVE HIM A GUN!!! Report: Man Who Shot Pope to Be Freed By SELCAN HACAOGLU, Associated Press Writer
document.write(getElapsed("20060108T181223Z")); 57 minutes agoUPDATED 16 MINUTES AGO
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.
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 motive for the attack remains unclear.
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.
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.
And then you have to join the military???? That really makes no sense. Not to mention that he tried to kill one of the most famous people in the world and he got 20? I use the world famous to describe the Pope, because wheether or not you agree with him or the Catholic Church, you cannot deny his noterity!
ANKARA, Turkey (CNN) -- Turkish police are reported to have taken into custody the man who shot Pope John Paul II in 1981 after an appeals court ordered his return to prison to serve more time for killing a journalist.
Mehmet Ali Agca was being taken to a police station in Istanbul's Kartal district on Friday, The Associated Press reported.
Earlier in the day, the high court overruled a lower court's decision that freed Agca from a Turkish prison where he had served five years for the 1979 murder of a Turkish left-wing newspaper editor.
Before that, Agca spent 19 years in an Italian prison for the pope's shooting before he was pardoned in 2000 by Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi.
Under Turkish law Agca's time in prison in Italy counted as time served for the murder of the journalist, Abdi Ipekci. His release caused outrage among some in Turkey.
He has said he will speak about the assassination attempt if he is paid for doing so. He is entertaining offers of up to $1 million.
Before his release, Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said the Holy See supports "the decisions of the courts involved in this matter."
Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer vetoed an amnesty bill in 2002 that would have freed Agca from prison.
John Paul II was critically wounded in the May 13, 1981, shooting, which occurred as he rode in an open car across St. Peter's Square at the Vatican.
Agca shot the pontiff point-blank, striking him in the abdomen, left hand and right arm. He was captured immediately.
Doctors were able to save John Paul II's life largely because Agca's bullets missed his vital organs. The pope publicly forgave his would-be assassin three days after the shooting and later met Agca in prison.
John Paul II died April 2 at age 84. He was replaced by Pope Benedict XVI.
Until his arrest Friday, Agca had vanished from the public eye since his release from prison on January 12, but authorities said they had intelligence about his whereabouts. He appeared in public on Monday at a military hospital, but later slipped away again, AP said
