Juraj Cintula, a 72-year-old who shot Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, stands in the courtroom in Banska Bystrica, central Slovakia, on October 21, 2025, for the verdict and sentencing in his trial. JOE KLAMAR / AFP
A Slovak court on Tuesday, October 21, sentenced a gunman who shot Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico last year to 21 years in prison. Juraj Cintula, a 72-year-old poet, shot the nationalist and Kremlin-friendly Fico four times at close range on May 15, 2024, leaving him seriously wounded.
The attack occurred after a government meeting in the central Slovak mining town of Handlova as Fico walked into the street to greet supporters. Cintula, who was detained at the scene, said he shot Fico with the intention to wound but not kill him. But the court found him guilty on "terror" charges, sentencing him to 21 years in a maximum-security jail.
Cintula acted "with a motivation to stop a proper functioning the government," said judge Igor Kralik reading out the verdict. "The court had no doubt that the crime had been committed and that it was a particularly serious one," he added.
Editorial The specter of political violence in Slovakia
