(Adnkronos) – The man who attempted to assassinate Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico on May 15 last year has been sentenced to 21 years in prison for terrorism. Juraj Cintula, a 71-year-old pensioner with a passion for poetry, had shot Fico with a legally registered weapon that he owned after also being attacked in a shopping center.
Cintula was convicted on “terrorism” charges because he acted “with the intent to impede the proper functioning of the government,” said Judge Igor Kralik.
In September last year, Fico had released a 14-minute video on Facebook in which he forgave his attacker. “I forgive my attacker, who is evidently only the messenger of the evil and political hatred that a politically failed and frustrated opposition has developed to unmanageable proportions in Slovakia,” the Slovak Prime Minister had said.
