Word: severino
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...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...
...first statement by Agca directly linking the Soviet Union to the shooting in St. Peter's Square on May 13, 1981. When Presiding Judge Severino Santiapichi expressed doubts about the statement, Agca dismissed the challenge with an offer. "I ask the court to show me the photos of all the personnel of the Soviet embassy at Sofia," he said. "I will surely recognize him." He went on to describe the alleged Soviet conspirator as being 5 ft. 11 in. tall, with a "long and full face," glasses, blond hair and a "sporting appearance...
Agca, who along with seven other defendants faces charges related to a conspiracy to assassinate the Pope, also told presiding Judge Severino Santiapichi how he had purchased the weapon that was at one point passed to Defendant Omer Bagci and eventually used in the shooting. Agca refused to discuss previous claims of Bulgarian complicity in the plot, beyond assertions that "Bulgaria is guilty" and that he had been "threatened by the secret services of the Soviet Union and Bulgaria...
Suspicions that Agca had not acted alone in St. Peter's Square on May 13, 1981, surfaced shortly after the shooting. When Agca was tried, convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment two months later, the presiding judge, Severino Santiapichi, who is also conducting the current trial, suggested that "hidden minds" had directed the Turk. Italian authorities reopened the case that autumn. The investigation heated up after Agca, in a series of sometimes contradictory jailhouse revelations, described a "Bulgarian connection." Two years later, an Italian prosecutor hinted that the Soviet Union might have been involved in a plot against the Pope...