San Francisco Frontiers - Slovak gunman who shot PM to go on trial

Nationalist, Kremlin-friendly Fico was shot four times from close range after a government meeting in the central Slovak mining town of Handlova on May 15, 2024, leaving him seriously wounded.

Detained at the scene, Juraj Cintula, a 72-year-old poet, who has admitted to shooting the leader with the intention to wound but not kill him, is facing up to life in prison if convicted.

The hearing at a special penal court in the central city of Banska Bystrica is due to start at 0700 GMT on Tuesday.

- 'Examine intent' -

Prosecutors argue that Cintula sought to "permanently prevent Fico from serving as prime minister, thereby preventing the Slovak government from proper functioning and fulfilling its programme".

Just after the shooting, Cintula told the police he wanted to protest against steps taken by Fico's government, including the halting of military aid to war-ravaged Ukraine, according to a leaked video.

Cintula, who used a legally owned gun, told the Novy cas tabloid in a rare interview in May that he did not want to kill Fico: "I did not shoot at the heart or the head."

He said he had plotted the attack for two days and added he was relieved to see Fico survived.

"I have lost physical freedom, but mentally I was liberated... I feel no inner tension. In prison, one must run across green meadows in the mind to stay sane," Cintula told Novy cas.

The Cintula case file comprises 18 volumes and more than 6,200 pages.

Cintula was originally charged with premeditated murder, but prosecutors later reclassified the shooting as a terror attack.

This means they will have to prove Cintula wanted to harm the state, Tomas Stremy, a criminal law professor at Comenius University in Bratislava, told AFP.

"It is essential to examine the perpetrator's intent," he said.

- Lasting 'polarisation' -

Fico underwent two lengthy operations and returned to work two months after the attack.

The 60-year-old is serving a fourth term as premier, heading a three-party coalition governing the EU and NATO member of 5.4 million people since 2023.

Since his return to office, Fico's government has launched a crackdown on non-profit organisations, LGBTQ rights, cultural institutions and some media it deems "hostile", drawing protests in the heavily polarised country.

Fico's friendship with Russian President Vladimir Putin has also led thousands of Slovaks to rally against him under the slogan of "Slovakia is Europe" as Russian troops keep pounding Ukraine.

Fico himself called Cintula a "product of hatred, an assassin created by media and the opposition".

"The governing coalition naturally tried to use (the shooting) to its advantage," Grigorij Meseznikov, a political analyst at the Institute for Public Affairs, told AFP.

"This included associating the horrible act with the activities of opposition parties without any evidence or witness testimony to support these claims," he added.

But he said the shooting did not change Slovakia's political landscape.

He said the trial would be closely watched, but regardless of the verdict, "the polarisation will last".

V.Mitchell--SFF