NO BAIL FOR BULGARIAN SUSPECT IN POPE SHOOTING

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000505130030-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 20, 2010
• Sequence Number: 30
• Publication Date: December 6, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/20: CIA-RDP90-005528000505130030-6
UNITED PRESS INTERNA TIq
6 DECEMBER 1982
a~TO bail for Bulgarian suspect in pope shooting
RCN'E
A court Monday refused to release a Bulgarian arrested on suspicion of
complicity in ttte sttootins of Pope Jahn Paul II, artd a U.S. senator said he hid
~~: ~vi~=r'.:e roscow was behind the assassination bid.
TI-~e court declined to grant provisional liberty to Sergei Ivartov Antortov, the
former station chief of the Bulgarian airlines arrested Kov. 25 in Rome on
suspicior-~ of having participated in the may i3, 1981 assassination attempt.
Ttte court's ruling meant there was sufficient evidence to keep Antonov jailed
until trial attd ttte arrest warrant issued against him was justified. No trial
date has been set yet.
Besides Antortov, two other Bulgarians and four Turks are suspected to have
helped Turkish terrorist Mehmet Ali Agca, who was sentenced to life in prison
ror :t~cctirtg Lhe pope ir. St. Peter's Square.
Judicial sources said Agca to1C investigators Antonov played a role of
"support and cover" in the assassination atterpt. Tttey said Agca, 24, said
Antonov was in St. Peter's Square with him the day of the shooting.
Ttte sources said Agca was able to describe Arttonov's Rome apartment in
detail, down to the brit-a-brae in the living room. Agca told ttte investigators
tnc fi"2i plans for the shooting were drawn up at thie Antonov home.
Tilt" sources saiC Anonov respondeC to the accusations by saying someone mus t
have t~1d ttte young Turk what the Antonov apartment looked like.
in an interview in the weekly magazine Partorarr,a, Sen. Alphonse D'Arr,ato said
he gave the CIA inforrr,ation from a b'atican source the Soviets were behind the
plot.
The t~ew York Republican said ttte pope personally wrote to the late Soviet
1~~~~r ~eor~id Erez"nev saying tte would return t~ Pr,lan~ if the Soviets invaded
his homeland.
"T:`1'ct the pope wrote to Rrezhnev in very firm terms is a sure fact. It was
co"firmed to me personally by the monsignor wtto brought the letter to Moscow and
then returned to get the response from the Kremlin," the magazine quoted
D'Amato as saying.
It was a hand-written letter, in Russian, by the pope himself, If the
Russians would invade Poland, ttte letter said, the pope would return to be by
the side of his people."
The magazine did not say when the letter was sent, but outer Italian reports
apparently about ttte same letter said John Paul informed the Soviet leadership
of his intentions in the first months of 1981.
D'Amato's comments appeared to support media reports the plot was conceived;
by the Soviets because of 'the pontiff's continued vocal support of the
Soiid'crity union in Poland.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/20: CIA-RDP90-005528000505130030-6