A specialized criminal court in Banska Bystrica found Juraj Cintula, 72, guilty of terrorism, concluding a trial that began in July.
Cintula, who was immediately detained after the attack in Handlova in May 2024, did not deny shooting Fico. He fired five shots from point-blank range at the prime minister, hitting him four times.
Fico suffered serious wounds to his abdomen, hip, hand, and foot.
Cintula previously said that he wanted to hurt but not kill Fico, to stop him from continuing his policies, which he said damaged Slovakia’s freedom and culture.
The former mine worker, stonemason, and security guard told reporters when leaving court on Tuesday that he would appeal the verdict, calling it “unjust.”
Cintula’s defense lawyer, Namir Alyasry, said the verdict did not surprise him, but said that the Supreme Court of the Slovak Republic had previously “presented the legal opinion that the elements were not met to qualify the act as a terrorist attack.”
“In our appeal, we will also point to this previously expressed legal opinion,” Slovak news agency TASR reported.
He added that, in his view, the sentence itself could be unconstitutional, as the only permitted punishment for acts of terrorism in the country is life imprisonment, but his client was sentenced to 21 years.
“In my opinion, the Constitutional Court of the Slovak Republic has repeatedly stated in several decisions that if the sentence is set with absolute certainty, it is unconstitutional,” he said.
Judge Igor Kralik, heading a three-judge panel, said Cintula’s attack was an action against the government and that he was inciting people to overthrow it.
“The defendant did not attack a citizen, but specifically the prime minister,” Kralik said.
Slovak Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok welcomed the verdict.
“He attacked the very essence of democracy, the right of each of us to decide Slovakia’s future with a ballot, not a gun. Aggression can never be a tool in a democracy. It must never become the norm that hatred replaces dialogue and bullets replace arguments.”
Fico, who did not attend the trial, previously said he had forgiven Cintula.
Fico, a member of the Communist Party before the dissolution of communism, was elected to parliament in 1992 as a member of the Party of the Democratic Left. In 1999, he became chairman of the Direction–Social Democracy party, known as Smer, and has been the prime minister of Slovakia since 2023.
He previously held the post of prime minister from 2006 to 2010 and from 2012 to 2018.
His brand of left-wing populism and relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin have drawn criticism both inside Slovakia and beyond the country’s borders, most recently when he chose to attend Russia’s Victory Day parade on May 9.
Slovakia is a member of both NATO and the EU.
