CIA ORDERED REPORTER KILLED, SOVIET PUBLICATION SUGGESTS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000505120006-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 15, 2010
• Sequence Number: 6
• Publication Date: October 13, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/15: CIA-RDP90-00552R000505120006-4
ARTICLE Ap
ON PAGE
BALTIMORE SUN
13 October 1983
CIA ordered reporter killed,
Soviet publication -su ests
Moscow (Reuter) An official Her alleged kidnappers `have been
Soviet journal yesterday suggested demanding the release of.Mehmet All
one of its .reporters had been mur- Agca, the Turk convicted of shooting
dered in Italy on the orders of the CIA '.Pope John Paul II.
i
n connection with the plot to kill the The weekly ;said the ,:kidnapping`
pope.
Literaturnaya Gazeta made the
allegation in a statement by its edi-
torial staff calling on the Italian au-
thorities to provide. an explanation_
for the disappearance of journalist
Oleg Bitov September S.
Mr. Bitov was on a 10-day assign-
ment to cover the'Venice film festival
when be vanished.
The journal discounted suggestions
be might have! defected and. recalled
that Mr. Bitov had been following the
,case of 'Emanuella Orlanda, kid-
napped daughter of a Vatican official.
was linked with the pope's attempted'
assassination and noted that it had
previously published proof of CIA in
volvement.in the plot.
"In Italy the CIA has- more than
once done away -witb unwanted peo.
ple, delivering them into?the hands of-
hired terrorist-kidnappers, it said.
'"Revenge against a -newspaper?
Let's not forget Oleg Bitov represent--
ed Lfteraturnaya Gazeta, which;
has recently carried out a: series of in-
vestigations of a very: political nature'
in Western countries, and the last was"':
in Italy," it said.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/15: CIA-RDP90-00552R000505120006-4