THE PAPAL ASSASSINATION PLOT (CONT'D.)

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000505110018-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 27, 2010
• Sequence Number: 18
• Publication Date: August 18, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/27: CIA-RDP90-00552R000505110018-2
ARTICLE ArPEARED
ON PAGE A-I$'_
WASHINGTON POST
18 August 1984
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
The Papal Assassination Plot (Cont 'd.)
There seems little to be gained
from continuing to pick nits, in my
reply to Michael Dobbs' reply ["The
Po and the Bulgarians," op-ed, Aug.
10) to my column ["The Attack on the
Pope: There's More to the Story," op-
ed, Aug. 7] on the papal assassination
plot.
My purpose in my New York Times
story June 10 was solely to present a
summary of the judicial evidence cited
by Prosecutor Albano, whose full re-
port was in my possession, on the
strength of which he asked for the in-
dictment and trial of the three Bulgar-
ians. I used information that the prose-
cutor considered important to his ar-
gument.
The prosecutor did not attach the
importance that the press subse-
quently did to certain retractions
made by the Turkish gunman Mehmet
All Agca. Reports have implied that I
withheld those sections of the report
because they did not fit my own thesis.
The facf is that I gave the relevant
pages to the Italian weekly L'Espresso
when they told me they could not get
the full story any place else. My story
in The Times was never meant either
to evaluate the prosecutor's case or to
present whatever evidence might be
found to contradict it. That whole area
remains a subject for continuing explo-
ration.
However, in regard to Mr. Agca's
credibility, readers ought to know -ex-
actly what State Prosecutor Albano
did have to say about it. Here, in a lit-
eral translation, is the pertinent part
of Mr. Albano's text (pages 13-15) not
published anywhere in full before to
my knowledge:
"There is no doubt Agca did not
help himself and his position by insert-
ing untrue facts and circumstances
into the proceedings. But it is never-
theless necessary to be cautious in
deducing, from that alone, the vertical
collapse of his credibility.
"Agca certainly committed errors
of behavior, but were they really inex-
plicable ;and inexcusable? Do we really
want to accuse Agca of being simply a
vulgar liar because he did not immedi-
ately tell the truth? [Albano's italics.]
. "Certainly, his initial approach to the
truth was stingy and cautious; but such pru-
dence was reasonably related to personal
fears and the difficult game he was playing.
We must be firm in making it clear that
Agca tried to bargain for his possible liberty
with three interlocutors: his Turkish ac-
complices, his Bulgarian accomplices and
Italian justice.
And he did it exactly like the Levantine
he is, with intricate ways of presenting his
goods, varying the price, color and weight.
"Metaphor aside, Agca tried from his
earliest parsimonious confession to solicit
first the help promised by his co-nationals,
then the help contracted for with the Bul-
garians, and finally entrusted himself to the
clemency of our judicial order.
"But is the truth less true solely because
it is given in an anomalous way? Does not
the truth remain true if, in spite of every-
thing, it is shown to be such with the certi-
tude of evidence and the force of logic?
"Well then, Agca can be believed, can be
considered credible and truthful because his
truth has been corroborated by personal
confirmation from numerous witnesses and
-most important-from his co-defend-
ants.
"Every declaration of Agca's, every cir-
cumstance he mentioned, every detail, has
been subjected to veri5cation, control, in-
vestigation. The global results lead t a se-
rene and balanced judgment: Agca is con-
vincing in his reconstruction of the crime.
"Here, we must underline the fact that
Mahmet All has always remained coherent
and firm in the substance of his accusations
against Oral Celik, Bekir Celenk, Zhelio
Vasilev, Todor Aivazov, and Sergei Anto-
nov. Their roles and their behavior closely
connected to the plot, have never been
modified or altered [Albano's italics]. Cer-
tainly, there have been changes, discord
antes, contradictions in Agca's declarations.
But they have always involved side issues,
details of behavior, superfluous indications
of times and places, never in any case af-
fectmg the relevant [Albano's italicsf juridi-
cal and penal aspects of the case."
CLAIRE STERLING
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/27: CIA-RDP90-00552R000505110018-2