Turk admits trying to kill the Pope

Turkish terrorist Mehmet Ali Agca admitted he tried to kill Pope John Paul II but said he had been tortured by police and demanded to be tried in the Vatican rather than by an Italian court.

At the opening of his trial on charges of trying to kill the Pope and wounding two American women, Agca accused the Italian government of maintaining "medieval conditions" and using torture in Rebibbia jail, where he has been held since he shot and wounded the pontiff in St. Peter's Square. He said that unless Italian authorities handed him over to the Vatican for trial by Dec. 20, he would start a hu nger strike that day.