Shooting of Nikola Štedul
The shooting of Nikola Štedul was an attempted assassination in Kirkcaldy, Scotland in 1988.
The victim, Nikola Štedul, is a Croatian emigrant. Štedul had been the president the Croatian Statehood Movement, campaigning for Croatian independence from Yugoslavia.
The assassin Vinko Sindičić arrived in Britain with a Swiss passport. He received the gun and silencer he used for the murder attempt from the Yugoslav embassy.[1] Early on the morning of October 20, 1988, Štedul, who was walking his dog, was shot at four times by Sindičić.[2] Štedul survived the shooting, while Sindičić was arrested at Heathrow Airport. The Yugoslav embassy subsequently provided the alibi that Sindičić was in the country watching the Scotland-Yugoslavia football match on October 19. However, residue from the firearm was found on Sindičić's skin, and after an eleven-day trial he was found guilty of attempted murder and sentenced to 15 years in jail.[1]
The assassination attempt was subject of a 1994 movie by Scottish Television titled The Yugoslav Hitman.[3]
