Istanbul, Jan. 12 (Reuters): Mehmet Ali Agca, the man who shot and wounded Pope John Paul II in 1981, was released from a Turkish jail today after serving more than a quarter of a century behind bars.

“Agca is now a free man. After 26 years, Agca is now getting wet in the rain,” his lawyer Mustafa Demirbag said.

Turkish justice minister Cemil Cicek said he would appeal Agca’s release and the 48-year-old former Right-wing gangster could be jailed again for the 1979 murder of liberal newspaper editor Abdi Ipekci and on other charges dating from the 1970s. “As the justice minister, I will ask the appeals court to examine the release of Agca,” Cicek said in Istanbul.

Agca’s motives in shooting the Pope in Rome’s St Peter’s Square remain a mystery, but some believe he was a hitman for Soviet-era East European security services alarmed by the Polish-born Pontiff’s fierce opposition to communism.

Casually dressed and looking solemn, Agca was whisked from his Istanbul jail to a military base to register for military service. As he emerged, he said nothing, but handed reporters a copy of a Time magazine cover with a picture of himself meeting Pope John Paul. “Why Forgive?” the headline said.