Italy Says It May Pardon, Release Turk Who Tried to Kill Pontiff

The man who tried to kill Pope John Paul II--a Turkish terrorist who has already been forgiven three times by the pontiff--may be considered soon for a presidential pardon, the Justice Ministry said Friday.

And ministry spokesman Emilio Albertario said that President Francesco Cossiga would be likely to grant freedom to Mehmet Ali Agca, now serving a life prison sentence for shooting and wounding the Pope in St. Peter’s Square on May 13, 1981.

News reports Friday said that Cossiga is already considering a request by the Pope that the terrorist be freed.

“No formal proceedings have been started either at the Justice Ministry or at the office of the president,” Albertario said. “But it could be imminent.”

‘A Vatican Gesture’

Albertario indicated that a formal pardon request, which under Italian law must come from the prisoner, was unlikely to be rejected.

“Technically speaking, it is not the injured party who can request a pardon, but a Vatican gesture would probably have an influence,” he said. “A final decision would be taken by the president. He could say no, but I doubt very much that he would.”

It was not known whether Cossiga would seek comment on a possible pardon from two American women who were also wounded in the attack on the pontiff, Ann Odre of Buffalo, N.Y., and Rose Hall of Ayer, Mass.

Once Agca formally applies for a pardon, Albertario said, it would take only seven to 10 days for the Justice Ministry to evaluate Agca’s jail conduct and submit the pardon request to the president.

Forgiveness Expressed

Jail officials say that Agca, 28, is a model prisoner who appears to sincerely regret his attack on John Paul.

Asked about Italian and Turkish newspaper reports that John Paul already has telephoned Cossiga seeking to have Agca freed, Father Giulio Nicolini, deputy Vatican spokesman, said, “We have nothing to add to the fact that the Holy Father, from the first moment, publicly expressed his forgiveness for Mehmet Ali Agca.”

Nicolini, however, did not deny that the pontiff was trying to obtain a state pardon for his would-be assassin.

The possibility of a pardon for the right-wing terrorist surfaced after Agca’s mother, Muzeyen, 50, and his brother, Adnan, 25, had an emotional private audience with John Paul on Feb. 20.

Mother’s Plea

During the meeting, the woman asked the Pope to forgive her son, a step John Paul already had taken twice before. The pontiff first publicly forgave Agca in a recorded message from his hospital bed a week after the attack and repeated it during a jail cell visit to the terrorist on Dec. 27, 1983.

John Paul repeated his personal pardon for Agca during the audience with his mother.

Agca was sentenced to life in prison in July, 1981.