I'm guessing 25 years is a pretty long sentence for shooting (and not killing) someone nowadays...so why am I a little pissed that this guy gets to breathe free air again?



www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,181014,00.html


Report: Would-Be Pope Assassin to Be Freed
Sunday, January 08, 2006

 
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.

With his prior record he should not be getting out.

Quoted: With his prior record he should not be getting out.

Just got out