Irozhlas: The bomber who shot the Prime Minister of Slovakia, sentenced to 21 years in prison. 72-year-olds plead guilty, can appeal

The man who scored 5 times from close proximity to Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Ficy was sentenced to 21 years in prison on Tuesday (21.10.). The court found 72-year-old Juraj Cintula guilty of carrying out a terrorist act, as requested by the prosecution. The conviction is not final – the suspect may appeal to the ultimate Court.

Although the Slovak Penal Code provides for a life imprisonment conviction for a terrorist attack, the court has taken advantage of the anticipation of leniency. Cintula, retired, pleaded guilty during the trial.

According to prosecutor Katarína Habčákova and lawyer Robert Fica, David Lindtner, “it has been proved beyond uncertainty that the accused has committed a peculiarly serious terrorist offence”.

Cintuli's defender, Namir Alyasry, requested that the court qualify the act as an attack on a public officer, for which there is simply a much milder penalty—from 7 to 12 years in prison.

– The suspect did not attack the victim as an average citizen, but as Prime Minister of the Government. He acted for political reasons, called for the overthrow of power – the president of the Igor Králik Judges justified the decision. That was 1 of the reasons why the court accepted the prosecution's office.

The court did not believe the defendant's explanation that he did not want to kill the Prime Minister, but simply hurt him. As stressed, this situation does not alter the qualification of the act as a terrorist act.

Let us callback that the bombing occurred last May erstwhile Robert Fico, after a government gathering in Handlova, approached the residents gathered on the market. The assailant fired 5 shots at close range, seriously wounding the Prime Minister in the abdomen, hip, forearm and finger at his right foot. Fico had to go through a fewer surgeries.

Source: Irozhlas

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