The Katowice chapter of the National Remembrance Institute intends to cross-examine Ali Agca, to be released from prison early next year.

According to Italian daily La Repubblica, Ali Agca is to be released from prison on 18 January 2010.

The questioning would be part of legal proceedings concerning the assassination attempt on John Paul II in 1981. The Polish investigation is progressing fast. Andrzej Drogoń, head of the Katowice institute, states that “in the near future, maybe within a year and a half we will be able to finalise legal proceedings and acquaint the society with the results. Meanwhile, in the next couple of months we may expect a synthesis of our findings.”

A total of 4,000 pages of documents, transferred to the institute from Italy, will be translated by the end of the year. Almost 3,000 pages comprise protocols of the assassin’s cross-examination.

In April 2006, the Katowice chapter of the National Remembrance Institute resolved to embark on an investigation into an alleged plot of communist secret services coordinating the assassination attempt on John Paul II in May 1981. (aba/jb)