BULGARIAN MAINTAINS INNOCENCE IN ROME TRIAL

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000505100034-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 23, 2010
• Sequence Number: 34
• Publication Date: October 5, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/23: CIA-RDP90-00552R000505100034-5
ARTI11E APPEAREIL
ON PAGE
5 October 1985
Bulgarian Maintains Innocence in Rome Trial
By JOHN TAGLIABUE
Spedel to The New York Time.
ROME; Oct. 4 - A Bulgarian airline
official accused of being an accomplice
of the Turk who tried to assassinate
Pope John Paul II in 1981 had his days
in court this week, and he denied hav-
ing anything to do with the attempt on
the Pope's life.
The official, Sergei I. Antonov, the
former head of the Rome office of the
Government-run Bulgarian airline,
was accused by Mehmet All Agca, the
convicted assailant, of having helped
plan and carry out the plot.
When he took the stand Wednesday
for the first of two days of testimony,
Mr. Antonov trembled, stared blankly
and clasped and unclasped his hands
nervously, prompting the chief judge,
Severino Santiapichi to inquire
whether he needed 10 minutes to calm
down.
Mr. Antonov exclaimed: "I want to
say! I have nothing to do with this in-
credible story in which they have in-
volved me!"
Then, pointing to Mr. Agca, who sat
implacably next to him, he said, "I am
innocent and have never seen or spoken
with the man here present."
Questioning by Judge
In the fifth month of the trial of eight
men - three Bulgarians and five Turks
- that the prosecution accuses of plot-
ting to assassinate the Pope, Judge
Santiapichi's questions followed two
lines of inquiry:
SHow could Mr. Antonov, a univer-
sity dropout, former stagehand and
part-time librarian, have 'risen so
quickly to a responsible position in the
airline?
9How could he have done so without
knowing, as he has asserted, a word of
English, the language of international
air travel?
Mr. Agca has said he regularly spoke
English with Mr. Antonov while plan-
ning the attack on the Pope.
Mr. Agca told investigators, in some.
times contradictory pretrial testimo-
ny, n defendant in It~ian custody, helped
plan the plot, which Mr. Agca said was
masterminded by the Bulgarian secret
service, and that Mr. Angonov drove
him and a second Turkish gunman to
St. Peter's Square an the day of the
shooting. Mr. Antonov was arrested in
Rome after Mr. Agca's testimony, but
has always denied any involvement.
Issue of Language Skills
Mr. Antonov responded to questions
slowly, with long pauses, often staring
blankly, prmompting the judge to re-
mark, "Sometimes when I ask a ques-
tion, your look seems to wander in a
vacuum, as though the question did not
regard you.11
The judge pressed him to explain
how the Bulgarian airline, Balkanair,
could send someone with no knowledge
of Italian or English, first to Casablan-
ca, Morocco, and in 1977, to Rome to
head the office there.
Mr. Antonov replied hesitantly that
he had noted some English phrases
referring to aviation "in a notebook"
before leaving Sofia, the Bulgarian
capital, and learned them.
"What language are airline forms
written in?" the judge asked.
"Sometimes in English," Mr. Anto-
nov said.
"They're always in English," the
judge replied.
When Mr. Antonov insisted, never-
theless, that Balkanair's forms were in
Bulgarian as well as English, the judge
ordered court officials to have typical
Balkanair documents presented to the
court.
The court, however, seemed unable
to produce witnesses capable of testify-
ing to Mr. Antonov's language ability.
The judge cited pretrial testimony by
two witnesses, a former Balkanair
stewardess, now living in'. the United
States, and a Bulgarian refugee now
living In West Germany. But they testi-
fied only that a knowledge of English
was generally required of Balkanair
employees.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/23: CIA-RDP90-00552R000505100034-5