Slovak man sentenced to 21 years in jail for shooting Prime Minister

A Slovak court ruled on Tuesday that a man who shot and wounded Prime Minister Robert Fico last year was guilty of terrorism charges and gave him a 21-year jail sentence, reports CNN. 

Juraj Cintula, 72, shot at Fico five times from just over a one-meter distance as the prime minister greeted people in the central Slovak town of Handlova in May 2024. 

The verdict of the Specialized Criminal Court in the city of Banska Bystrica closes a trial that began in July and whose main question was whether Cintula, who admitted shooting Fico, was guilty of terrorism. 

The ruling can be appealed at the country's Supreme Court. 

Fico was struck four times and was seriously injured in his abdomen, and also suffered injuries to his hip, hand and foot. He made his first public appearance in July last year, a few months after the attack.  Cintula said he wanted to hurt but not kill Fico, because he wanted to stop him from continuing his policies which he said hurt Slovakian freedom and culture. 

Fico's fostering of ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin has also led to protests by thousands of Slovaks under the slogan of "Slovakia is Europe".

In his final trial statement, a visibly emotional Cintula told the court he had been motivated by "moral despair".
He called his defence "a manifesto… for all those who feel that the arrogance of power, corruption and lies has no place in the country where our children will grow up".

Once a Fico fan, Cintula changed his mind when, as he put it, the prime minister, "drunk with power, started to bend the truth", making "irrational decisions that damage this country".

Describing the attack, Cintula said he knew he "only had seconds to decide" as he stood in the crowd facing Fico.

Fico has accused Cintula of being a "product of hatred, an assassin created by media and the opposition". 

>Agency