The shooting of Nikola Štedul was an attempted assassination in

Kirkcaldy Kirkcaldy ( ; sco, Kirkcaldy; gd, Cair Chaladain) is a town and former royal burgh in Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It is about north of Edinburgh and south-southwest of Dundee. The town had a recorded population of 49,460 in 2011, ...

, Scotland in 1988. The victim, Nikola Štedul, was a Croatian emigrant from what was then

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

. He had been the president of the Croatian Statehood Movement, campaigning for Croatian independence from Yugoslavia.

Vinko Sindičić Vinko Sindičić (born September 29, 1943) is a former State Security Administration (Yugoslavia), UDBA agent. Biography Sindičić was born in the town of Stara Baška on the island of Krk. As a child, Sindičić was enrolled and graduated fro ...

arrived in the UK in mid-October 1988, traveling on a falsified Swiss passport. In the early morning of 20 October while Štedul was walking his dog, Sindičić shot at him six times. Štedul survived the shooting and Sindičić was arrested at

Heathrow Airport Heathrow Airport (), called ''London Airport'' until 1966 and now known as London Heathrow , is a major international airport in London, England. It is the largest of the six international airports in the London airport system (the others be ...

. The Yugoslav embassy subsequently provided an alibi for Sindičić, saying he was visiting Scotland to watch a football match between

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

and

—the World Cup

qualifier In linguistics, a modifier is an optional element in phrase structure or clause structure which ''modifies'' the meaning of another element in the structure. For instance, the adjective "red" acts as a modifier in the noun phrase "red ball", provi ...

was played in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

on 19 October. However, firearm residue was found on Sindičić's skin and following an eleven-day trial, he was found guilty of attempted murder and sentenced to 15 years in jail. The assassination attempt was subject of a 1994 movie by

Scottish Television Scottish Television (now, legally, known as STV Central Limited) is the ITV network franchisee for Central Scotland. The channel — the largest of the three ITV franchises in Scotland — has been in operation since 31 August 1957 and is the ...

, ''The Yugoslav Hitman''. Štedul died in Croatia in 2022.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Attempted Assassination of Nikola Stedul Violence in Scotland Stedul, Nikola Kirkcaldy 1988 in Scotland October 1988 events in the United Kingdom 20th century in Fife 1988 crimes in the United Kingdom United Kingdom–Yugoslavia relations Shooting survivors Croatian activists

See also

References