Ankara (AsiaNews) - A Turkish court has approved the release of the man who shot pope John Paul II in 1981, saying he has completed his prison term, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported on Sunday.

Turkish citizen Mehmet Ali Agca, 46, was extradited to Turkey in 2000 after serving almost 20 years in prison in Italy for shooting and wounding the pope in St Peter's Square in Rome, on May 13th 1981. Days after the shooting Pope John Paul forgave the gunman and later visited him in prison. Ali Agca's motives for the attack remain unclear, even if in the past some links with the Burgarian and Soviet secret services have emerged.Ali Agca has given many versions of his attempt to kill the pope, mixing them up with pseudo- mystical considerations.

Upon his return to Turkey, Agca was sent to prison to serve a 10-year sentence for murdering Turkish journalist Abdi Ipekci in 1979. He was separately sentenced to seven years and four months for two robberies in Turkey the same year.

An Istanbul court ruled in 2004 that Agca should only serve the longest sentence — his conviction for killing Ipekci. That 10-year sentence was changed twice because of new Turkish laws.

Agca served less than six months in Turkish prison in 1979 for killing Ipekci before he escaped, resurfacing in 1981 in Rome.

Given that earlier time served, the Turkish prison asked for permission from a court to release Agca. The court ruled that Agca could now be freed within this week, Anatolia said.

Agca reportedly identified with the Gray Wolves, a far right-wing militant group that fought street battles against leftists in the 1970s.

At the news of Agca's liberation, Joaquin Navarro Valls, director of the Holy See press office declared yesterday: "In this case of a judiciary problem, the Holy See submit herself to the decision of the proper court".