Man sentenced to 21 years in jail for assassination try on Slovakias Prime Minister Fico

A courtroom in Slovakia on Tuesday (October 21, 2025) convicted a person of a terror assault and sentenced him to 21 years in jail over final 12 months’s tried assassination of the nation’s populist Prime Minister Robert Fico.

The taking pictures and the trial have shaken this small, European Union and NATO-member nation, the place Mr. Fico has lengthy been a divisive determine, criticised for straying from Slovakia’s pro-Western path and aligning it nearer to Russia.

Juraj Cintula opened fireplace on Mr. Fico on May 15, 2024, because the Prime Minister greeted supporters following a authorities assembly within the city of Handlová, about 140 km northeast of the capital of Bratislava.

Cintula, 72, was arrested instantly after the assault and remanded in custody. When questioned by investigators, he rejected the accusation of being a “terrorist.”

Mr. Fico was shot within the stomach and was taken from Handlová to a hospital within the close by metropolis of Banská Bystrica. He underwent a five-hour surgical procedure, adopted by one other two-hour operation two days later. He has since recovered.

Cintula has claimed his motive for the taking pictures was that he disagreed with authorities insurance policies. He refused to testify earlier than the Specialised Criminal Court in Banská Bystrica. however confirmed that what he had advised investigators about his motive stays true.

“The defendant didn’t assault a citizen, however particularly the Prime Minister,” Igor Králik, the top of the three-judge panel, stated in delivering the decision. “He was towards the federal government, he was inciting folks to overthrow the federal government.”

The verdict of the panel was unanimous. The courtroom stated that Cintula’s age and the truth that he had no prison file contributed to why he didn’t obtain life imprisonment.

“It is unjust,” Cintula saved saying in Slovak as he was leaving the courtroom.

In his testimony, learn by a prosecutor on the trial, Cintula stated he disagreed with Mr. Fico’s insurance policies, together with the cancellation of a particular prosecution workplace coping with corruption, the top of navy assist for Ukraine and the federal government’s strategy to tradition.

“I made a decision to hurt the well being of the prime minister however I had no intention to kill anybody,” he stated within the testimony. He additionally stated he was relieved when he discovered the premier survived.

Cintula’s legal professional, Namir Alyasry, advised reporters his consumer would very doubtless attraction the decision. He was initially charged with tried homicide however prosecutors later dropped that cost and stated they have been as a substitute pursuing the extra critical cost of participating in a terror assault. They stated it was primarily based on proof the investigators obtained however gave no additional particulars.

Government officers initially stated they believed it was a politically motivated assault dedicated by a “lone wolf,” however introduced later {that a} third get together may need been concerned in “performing for the good thing about the perpetrator.”

Mr. Fico beforehand stated he “had no motive to imagine” it was an assault by a lone deranged individual and repeatedly blamed the liberal opposition and media for the assassination try. There isn’t any proof for that.

The Prime Minister was not current on the trial and didn’t instantly touch upon the decision. Mr. Fico had beforehand stated he felt “no hatred” in direction of his attacker, forgave him and deliberate no authorized motion towards him.

Mr. Fico returned to energy for the fourth time after his leftist Smer, or Direction, get together gained the 2023 parliamentary election after campaigning on a pro-Russia and anti-American message.

His critics have charged that Slovakia below Mr. Fico is following the path of Hungary below Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. Thousands have repeatedly rallied in Bratislava and throughout Slovakia to protest Mr. Fico’s pro-Russian stance and different insurance policies.