Word: santiapichi
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...trial was further hindered by language barriers and international red tape. The court made 24 trips to take testimony in West Germany, the Netherlands, Turkey, Switzerland and France. Recalls Santiapichi: "With almost a hundred witnesses in court and defendants who spoke in three different languages, we were slowed down." To hear one witness in the Netherlands, the session had to be conducted in Turkish, Dutch, German and Italian. Quipped a visiting Australian judge at the sight of translators for the Bulgarian and Turkish defendants: "This is the trial of Babel...
...Everyone who knows me knows that I do not speak English," insisted Sergei Antonov, in his native Bulgarian. That disclaimer by the trembling, white- faced defendant came in response to pointed questioning by Judge Severino Santiapichi last week at the four-month-old trial in Rome of Antonov and six other defendants; they are accused of conspiring with Turkish Gunman Mehmet Ali Agca to assassinate Pope John Paul II in St. Peter's Square four years ago. The question of Antonov's linguistic skills is considered vital to the , prosecution's case because Agca has said that he communicated with...
...trial of the eight defendants accused of conspiring to kill Pope John Paul II resumed last week in Rome, the overriding question was whether Star Witness Mehmet Ali Agca would ever testify again. The previous Tuesday, after persistent grilling by presiding Judge Severino Santiapichi, Agca had wearily announced, "There is nothing left to say." Then he returned to his cell in Rebibbia prison, refusing to appear in court. Over the weekend, however, the convicted Turkish gunman had a change of heart. Early last week he not only showed up in court but arrived with the announcement that "I have searched...
...deferential new testimony was laced with contradictions as in the past. Three weeks ago Agca testified that only two Turks had accompanied him to St. Peter's Square: Co-Defendant Oral Celik, who is being tried in absentia, and a man Agca identified simply as "Akif." Agca rejected Judge Santiapichi's suggestion that the mysterious Akif might actually be Sedat Sirri Kadem, an old school friend of Agca's. The next week Agca stuck to his claim that he had only two accomplices in the square and said that Akif was Turkish Terrorist Omer Ay, who is in a prison...
...dramatic identification of Antonov lost much of its effect when Agca admitted 20 minutes later, "It is possible I am mistaken." He also seemed to mock his own charges against the Masonic lodge when he insisted that the organization "knew with certainty that I am Jesus Christ." Judge Santiapichi interrupted, "Let us leave aside your divine powers...