Juraj Cintula, accused of a terrorist attack on Robert Fico, arrives at the Supreme Court in Bratislava.Image: keystone
April 29, 2026, 2:55 p.mApril 29, 2026, 2:55 p.m
The man who critically injured Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico with five shots in May 2024 has to go to prison for 21 years.
Almost two years after the shooting, Slovakia’s Supreme Court in Bratislava confirmed the verdict of a special court made in October 2025. This means that the conviction of the now 73-year-old pensioner Juraj Cintula becomes final.
The special court in Banska Bystrica was the first instance to sentence the attacker to 21 years in prison for terrorism. Cintula appealed and asked for a lesser sentence. That’s why the Supreme Court now had to decide. In this appeal process, too, on Wednesday he described the high sentence as “crazy” and emphasized: “I am not a terrorist!”
Hatred of the Prime Minister as a motive for the crime
On May 15, 2024, Cintula shot the left-wing national government leader Fico when he stepped outside to greet waiting supporters after a government meeting in the cultural center in the small town of Handlova. The police arrested the attacker immediately after his crime. That’s why there was never any doubt that he was the perpetrator.
Robert Fico.Image: keystone
Cintula himself never denied his actions. However, he denied any intention to kill during the trial. His goal was to injure the left-wing populist politician so badly that he would no longer be able to continue his government work. He cited hatred of Fico and his government policies as his motive.
The act also had great political explosiveness. In a video of a police officer that was controversially made public shortly after his arrest, Cintula justified his hatred of Fico with the same formulations that the opposition parties used at the time to call for protests against the Fico government. Government politicians therefore blamed the opposition and opposition media for the “climate of hatred” that made the terrorist act possible. (hkl/sda/dpa)