Storm Over 1981 Assassination Attempt

An Italian parliamentary investigation into communist-era Bulgarias role in a 1981 bid to assassinate Pope John Paul II, claims that the Sofia authorities may have censored or withheld up to 75 percent of the available information on the case held in the secret files of its former secret police.

The documents were delivered in April at the request of an Italian parliamentary commission, but it says the records are incomplete or censored, with names of Bulgarian agents deleted, reported Italys Corriere della Sera newspaper on 27 April. Bulgarian politicians have repeatedly dismissed allegations that the country was involved in the attempt on the pontiff's life. Declassified communist East German files have suggested that the attack was ordered by the Soviet KGB, who got the Bulgarian secret service to recruit the would-be assassin, Turkish right-wing gunman Mehmet Ali Agca.