April 29 (Reuters) – Slovakia’s Supreme Court upheld on Wednesday a 21-year jail sentence for a man who shot at Prime Minister Robert Fico two years ago, rejecting his appeal against terrorism charges, Slovak media reported.
A Slovak court last October ruled that Juraj Cintula, now 73, was guilty of terrorism charges for shooting at Fico five times from a close distance while the prime minister greeted a crowd in a central Slovak town in May 2024.
“The planning of the attack, combined with the knowledge that he was attacking the prime minister, indicates that he must have been aware of the negative effect on the functioning of government power,” online news website Dennik N quoted Judge Petr Kana as saying in the court’s justification.
The Supreme Court’s verdict is final, TASR news agency said.
The court did not reply to a request for comment.
The 2024 attack, which pointed to deep political polarisation in the central European country of 5.4 million people, left Fico in a critical condition but he later recovered and returned to work.
(Reporting by Jason Hovet in PragueEditing by Gareth Jones)
