Warsaw (PMN)—The Turkish gunman who shot and wounded Pope John Paul II has applied for Polish citizenship and wants to live in the late Pontiff's country when released from prison, his lawyer said on May 2, 2008. Lawyer Haci Ali Ozhan also told the Associated Press that Mehmet Ali Agca also wants to be transferred to a prison in Poland to serve the remainder of his term.

Ozhan said he submitted Agca's application for Polish citizenship to the Polish Embassy on May 1. "He has chosen Poland because it is country of the pope," Ozhan said. "Because the pope forgave him and paid close attention to him, we believe that the application will be accepted." Agca's brother, Adnan Agca, was in contact with Stanislaw Dziwisz, the archbishop of Krakow, who was John Paul’s closest aide for 40 years, and would also seek his help, Ozhan said.

"I shall be proud of becoming a member of the noble Polish nation, if my request to be granted Polish citizenship is accepted," Agca said in a petition addressed to Polish President Lech Kaczynski. "I am not a stranger to your country because the national hero of Poland, Pope Karol Wojtyla, is my spiritual brother," Agca said, referring to John Paul by his baptismal name.

Agca shot and seriously wounded John Paul in St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City, on May 13, 1981, and two years later the Pope met with Agca in an Italian prison and forgave him for the shooting.

Agca served 19 years in an Italian prison for the attack. He currently is serving a prison term in Turkey for killing prominent journalist Abdi Ipekci in Turkey in 1979, and is due to be released in 2010. What motivated his crimes remains a mystery, but he belonged to an extreme right-wing Turkish organization, the Grey Wolves, which was involved in political murders in the 1970s.

[The forgoing article is adapted from a report by Warsaw correspondent David Dastych.]