At the trial of would-be assassin Juraj Cintula, all evidence relevant to assessing whether his shooting of Prime Minister Robert Fico amounted to an act of terrorism has now been heard.
On Friday, 26 September, the court played key recordings of Cintula’s phone calls with his wife from pre-trial detention.
It was precisely on the basis of these phone calls and letters to his wife that prosecutors during the investigation classified Cintula’s actions as terrorism. They also presented transcripts of his conversations with an undercover agent deployed by police while Cintula was being treated in Trenčín prison hospital.
If the court finds him guilty of terrorism, Cintula faces life imprisonment. The attempt on the prime minister would at the same time become the first recognised case of a terrorist attack on a politician in Slovak history.
If judged more leniently, Cintula could face 25 years in prison for attempted premeditated murder.
The decisive point will be whether the court accepts the prosecution’s arguments or those of Cintula and his lawyer, Namir Alyasry. They argue that the intention behind the shooting was not to paralyse the entire government — which would fall under the definition of terrorism.
Cintula does not deny that his aim was to incapacitate Robert Fico so he could no longer perform his duties. He insists, however, that he did not intend to kill him.
Evidence presented
SME has compiled a summary of Cintula’s statements from his phone calls with his wife, played in court on Friday.
Police recorded the calls when he was in Trenčín prison hospital and later in Bratislava prison. By law, he was entitled to make phone calls. Before each conversation, an automated message warned that the call would be recorded and monitored.
This overview is not complete. The most important recordings — his conversations with the undercover agent — were played last week in closed session, at the request of prosecutor Katarína Habčáková, who argued that the agent’s identity could be revealed through his voice.
The attack took place on 15 May 2024, after a government meeting in Handlová. One bullet struck the prime minister in the abdomen, passing through to the hip bone. Other shots wounded him in the arm and leg.
