Slovak sentenced to 21 years for assassination attempt

A court in Slovakia on Tuesday convicted a man of a terror attack and sentenced him to 21 years in prison over last year’s attempted assassination of the country’s populist Prime Minister Robert Fico.

- BY KAREL JANICEK

POLICE escort Juraj Cintula, 72, into a courtroom in Banská Bystrica, Slovakia.

(JOE KLAMAR AFP/Getty Images)

The shooting and the trial have shaken this small, European Union and NATO-member country where Fico has long been a divisive figure, criticized for straying from Slovakia’s pro-Western path and aligning it closer to Russia.

Juraj Cintula opened fire on Fico on May 15, 2024, as the prime minister greeted supporters following a government meeting in the town of Handlova, about 85 miles northeast of the capital, Bratislava.

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

Fico was shot in the abdomen and was taken from Handlova to a hospital in the nearby city of Banska Bystrica. He underwent a five-hour surgery, followed by another two-hour operation two days later. He has since recovered.