Turk Inmate Linked to Pope Death Plot Found Dead in Cell
A man linked with the 1981 assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II has been found dead in a jail in eastern Turkey, the semi-official Anatolian News Agency said Thursday.
Samet Aslan was found dead in a prison toilet Wednesday with a sheet wrapped round his neck, Agri assistant prosecutor Huseyn Kaya said.
Aslan was a suspected member of the “Grey Wolves,” a rightist terrorist organization, and was being held in prison while being tried for alleged offenses in Turkey in 1978, including murder and possession of explosives.
Aslan was also on the international wanted list because of his alleged links with Mehmet Ali Agca, the right-wing terrorist now in jail in Italy for shooting the Pope in Rome’s St. Peter’s Square in May, 1981.
Observers speculated that he had been silenced because he was about to give details of the assassination attempt on the Pope to lighten his sentence when his trial eventually ends.
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