Man who shot Pope John Paul II to be released

THE Turk who shot Pope John Paul II in 1981 will be released from prison on Thursday, but he then may be tried in a military court for allegedly dodging the draft and escaping military custody, an official said yesterday.

A Turkish court decided last week to free Mehmet Ali Agca, 47, on parole, saying he had completed his prison term for crimes committed in Turkey. Agca was extradited to Turkey in 2000 after serving almost 20 years in an Italian prison for shooting and wounding John Paul in St. Peter’s Square in Rome on May 13, 1981.

His motive for shooting the pope in the abdomen remains unclear.