On Wednesday, May 13, 1981, Pope John Paul II passed open papamobile through Saint Peter's Square, blessing the faithful. Suddenly arrows were fired. Terrorist Mehmet Ali Agca burned from the browning pistol in the Pope. The bullets hit the stomach, right elbow and finger of the left hand. John Paul II was immediately taken to hospital. After five hours of operation, he began to recover.
The Italian court sentenced a terrorist to life imprisonment. He served 19 years
The bomber was immediately captured by the Italian police. During the investigation, he changed versions of events many times. In July 1981, the Italian court sentenced him to a lifetime prison. After 19 years, he was pardoned at the Pope's request and extracted to Turkey. In his homeland he spent 10 years in isolation for the murder of journalist Abdi Ipekci.
Pope John Paul II visited Mehmet Ali Agca in prison on December 27, 1983.
Ali Agca shot the pope. This is how he lives today
At the end of his sentence, in 2008, the Turkish bomber filed for Polish citizenship, President Lech Kaczyński refused him.
After leaving prison in 2010, Agca lived in the suburbs of Istanbul. “The Mirror” journalists reached the terrorist. He claimed, he changed, switched to Christianity and began to feed stray animals.
As the British daily The Mirror reported, Agca appeared in the Vatican in 2014, where he laid white roses on the grave of John Paul II. – I went to Saint Peter's Square on December 27. Exactly in the place where I shot at the pope. I took flowers, roses – said the bomber.
The bomber during a press conference in Istanbul – November 27, 2014.
After leaving prison, he employed as a car seller. Now the 67-year-old stays with the truck from the autobiographical sale of the book “They promised me paradise”. He tells, among others about meeting the Pope in a Roman prison.
