Prosecutor Asks Acquittal of Bulgarians in Plot to Kill Pope, Cites Poor Evidence

The prosecutor who has sought to tie three Bulgarians to the 1981 plot to kill Pope John Paul II reluctantly asked Thursday for their acquittal, acknowledging that he lacked enough evidence to prove the so-called Bulgarian connection.

Prosecutor Antonio Marini told the two judges and six jurors who have been hearing the case of the papal plot since last May that, by law, he is obligated to ask for acquittal even though the state still believes the Bulgarians may be guilty.

It was never brought out directly in the trial, but Marini’s case implied that the Soviet security agency KGB played a master role in directing Turkish gunman Mehmet Ali Agca, who shot the Pope in St. Peter’s Square on May 13, 1981.

Sketched Broad Conspiracy

The prosecutor’s case rested almost entirely on the testimony of Agca, who said at first that he had acted alone, but then sketched a broad conspiracy involving Turkish mobsters, right-wing terrorists and the Bulgarian secret service acting at the behest of the KGB.

Agca’s credibility as a witness was severely damaged by his frequent contradictions, admitted lies and courtroom outbursts in which he claimed to be Jesus Christ.

Now 27, Agca is serving a life sentence here for shooting the pontiff.

Marini, in acknowledging that he lacked the evidence to convict the Bulgarians, complained that the court had rejected his proposal to call further witnesses and reopen the nine-month trial.

“Because of this limitation, the formula of acquittal for insufficient proof is the only way open to me,” he said.

But the prosecutor coupled his call for acquittal with a reminder to the judges and jury that “you have another road you can follow,” suggesting that under the law they could ignore his request and still convict the defendants if they wish. Italian legal experts believe that result is unlikely.

No Total Absolution

Under Italian law, acquittal on the basis of insufficient evidence--unlike an outright acquittal--stops short of complete absolution and leaves open the possibility of future prosecution.

The court must still hear the defense lawyers’ final argument, which will begin next week and probably continue for about 10 days before the case goes to the jury.

Attorney Giuseppe Consolo, representing Sergei Ivanov Antonov, the only Bulgarian in custody in Rome, said he was dissatisfied with Marini’s conditioned request for acquittal and will seek complete exoneration because Antonov “didn’t do anything and had nothing to do with Agca.”

The other two Bulgarians are being tried in absentia. They are Lt. Col. Zhelyo Kolev Vassilev, a former military aide at the Bulgarian Embassy in Rome, and Todor Aivazov, who was the embassy financial officer. Both claimed diplomatic immunity and refused to return to Italy to face charges.

Life Sentences Sought

Four Turks in addition to Agca were also charged in the case. Marini asked for life sentences for two of them, Musa Cerdar Celebi, who is in custody here, and Oral Celik, Agca’s alleged fellow gunman at St. Peter’s, who disappeared after the shooting. A third, Omar Bagci, faces a 24-year prison sentence for smuggling Agca’s pistol into Italy, and the fourth, a Turkish underworld figure named Bekir Celenk, died in a Turkish jail last October.

The prosecution charged that Antonov, 38, acting under cover as station chief in Rome for the Bulgarian national airline, helped Aivazov and Vassilev plan the assassination with Agca, then waited with a getaway car near St. Peter’s on the day of the shooting.

According to the prosecution, Agca and Celik were to have been rushed from St. Peter’s to the Bulgarian Embassy and put into a diplomatic vehicle in which they would flee the country.

Aivazov, 42, and Vassilev, 43, remained in Rome for about a year after the shooting, returning to Sofia shortly before Agca began recounting his story of a Bulgarian connection to the plot.

Antonov remained at the Balkan Air office in Rome, where he was arrested in November, 1983. He was jailed but then released under house arrest on grounds of ill health months before the trial began.