Court: Juraj C.'s Lawyer: Angles of Shots Show My Client Didn't Want to Kill

Banska Bystrica, 9 July (TASR) - The expert reports presented showed what defendant Juraj C. (name abbreviated due to legal reasons) claims - that he didn't want to kill Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) but to injure him, defence lawyer Namir Alyasry stated during the trial, which continued at the Specialised Criminal Court in Banska Bystrica on Wednesday. Juraj C. shot and seriously wounded the premier in the town of Handlova (Trencin region) on 15 May of last year and is facing the charge of a terrorist attack committed against a protected person. He doesn't think that he deserves a life sentence. The lawyer stated that expert reports that speak about, for example, the angles of the shots, are significant. "The firing channel was conducted at a 30-degree angle in a downward direction, which confirms the defendant's assertion that he didn't intend to shoot in areas that would be immediately fatal, such as the head or chest. In addition, there's the distance between the muzzle of the weapon and the body of the victim, which was measured at exactly 1.2 metres. This also proves that he didn't intend to kill him. If he had wanted to shoot him dead from a distance of 1.2 metres, he would have certainly killed him," stressed Alyasry. The defence lawyer told the court that while the prosecution of his client is justified, the legal classification of the act as terrorism is disputable. He argued that not every attack on a public official constitutes terrorism. If convicted, Juraj C. might face a life sentence. Juraj C., a pensioner, reportedly acted out of anger towards Fico. He disagreed with the government's policies, which he viewed as a betrayal of the EU, and he wanted Slovakia to provide military aid to Ukraine. Juraj C. allegedly chose the government's away-from-home session in Handlova as an opportunity to attack Fico, aiming to render him unable to continue as prime minister. He used a legally owned firearm and fired five shots. The defendant claims that he deliberately aimed downwards and did not intend to kill. On the first day of the trial, 8 July, Juraj C. declined to plead guilty or not guilty and refused to testify, saying that he had already provided all relevant information during the investigation. On Wednesday, he reiterated that he's never felt hatred toward the prime minister, but acknowledged being angry - especially when Fico referred to the cultural community as "spiritually homeless people". am/df