Supreme Court Confirms 21-Year Prison Sentence for Cintula, Who Shot PM Fico

Bratislava, 29 April (TASR) - The Supreme Court on Wednesday confirmed a 21-year prison sentence for shooter Juraj Cintula for his assassination attempt on Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD), finding him guilty of committing a terrorist attack. The ruling by the court of appeal, which slightly corrected the legal classification imposed by the first-instance court, is final. Cintula was charged with a terrorist attack committed against a protected person, for which he faced a life sentence. There was no doubt that he had committed the act; the bone of contention was its legal classification. The Specialised Criminal Court (STS) last year sentenced Cintula to 21 years in prison for committing a terrorist act. The senate at that time emphasised that the defendant didn't attack the premier as a citizen of the Slovak Republic, but explicitly as the premier, with whose policies he disagreed. Cintula appealed against the verdict, arguing that he had no intention of destabilising Slovakia's constitutional order or its executive branch. A prosecutor of the Prosecutor-General's (PG) Office viewed the first-instance court's ruling as correct and fair. She therefore proposed that the Supreme Court should dismiss the defendant's appeal and uphold STS's ruling. She described the defendant's argumentation as expedient. Cintula during the trial before the first-instance court claimed that he only intended to injure Fico in order to prevent him from continuing in office as premier and didn't intend to kill him. He chose an away-from-home government session in Handlova (Trencin region) in May 2024 to strike. When the premier approached supporters, Juraj C. drew a legally owned firearm and fired five shots at the premier, causing multiple injuries. ko/df