Word: martella
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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After extensive ballistics tests, Martella concluded that three shots had been fired at the Pope and that only the first two came from Agca's Browning pistol. The third bullet, which hit the Pope's left hand and right arm, was fired by Celik, according to the judge. That slug was never found, but a reconstruction of its trajectory showed that it could not have been fired by Agca. Though Agca at first tried to protect Celik, who investigators say was "like a brother" to him, he eventually confessed that Antonov Celik was in the square, though only...
...three Bulgarians and Bekir Celenk, a shady Turkish Mafia figure accused of lining up Celik and Agca for the job, have insisted that they had nothing to do with the papal shooting and that they never even knew Agca. Martella claims to have contrary evidence on both counts. A problem for Martella's case, however, will be his chief witness, the inconsistent and sometimes unbelievable Agca...
...terrorist, who was sentenced to life imprisonment in July 1981, has offered detailed descriptions of the Bulgarians' personal lives, even mentioning Antonov's fascination with his collection of liquor miniatures. But Agca also revised, retracted and contradicted many of his statements. As Martella said last week, "Agca is an unpredictable person capable of anything...
Soft-spoken and courtly, Martella, 50, quietly insisted that his only job was to determine whether it was proper to hold a trial on this "extremely complex" matter. He was at pains to emphasize that his document is only an accusation, not a judgment. One avenue Martella discreetly refused to explore in public was the authorship of the conspiracy. A government prosecutor last June sent Martella a report, which was leaked to the press, asserting that "some political figure of great power," presumably in the Soviet Union, watched the rise of Poland's Solidarity labor movement and, "mindful...
Asked about that assertion, Martella would only say, "I limited myself to the facts...