Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico (Archive)
New Delhi:
The man detained over the murder of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico will face prosecution on charges of carrying out a terrorist attack, Slovakia’s prosecutor general said on Thursday.
Fico is recovering after being shot four times at close range as he greeted supporters at a government meeting in the central Slovak town of Handlova in mid-May. This left him needing hours of surgery.
A man identified by prosecutors as 71-year-old Juraj C. was detained at the scene after the attack and charged with attempted premeditated murder.
“Based on the evidence collected, the prosecuted act will be legally qualified as the particularly serious crime of terrorist attack,” Attorney General Maros Zilinka said on Facebook on Thursday, without providing further details.
The accused, if found guilty, could face life imprisonment under the new classification, in accordance with Slovak criminal law. He had previously faced 25 years or life in prison.
The attack highlighted the deep polarization of politics in the Central European country.
The detained man said, according to court documents, that he wanted to hurt the prime minister but not kill him because he disagreed with government policies, including canceling a special prosecutor’s office and halting state military aid to Ukraine.
(Except the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
This story originally appeared on Ndtv.com read the full story
