Cat shot by minister: Fine for professional cyclist Tiberi

A court in his home town of San Marino sentenced the professional from Trek-Segafredo was fined 4,000 euros for shooting the tourism minister's cat, according to a report in the "Corriere della Serra".

Trek-Segafredo suspends Tiberi

His racing team Trek-Segafredo then announced that they were unaware of the incident and had immediately suspended Tiberi for at least 20 days without pay. Tiberi's salary is to be donated to an animal charity organisation. The professional will miss three races, and the team expressly did not rule out extending the suspension.

Tiberi shot at cat with air rifle

In the summer of 2022, Tiberi bought an air rifle and wanted to try it out. So he started by shooting at a road sign from the window of his flat. Hit. Then he decided to aim at a cat's head. Hit. The cat belonged to Federico Amati, the tourism minister of San Marino. He called the police and the case ended up in court.

Tiberi comments on the incident

According to the report, Tiberi, once junior world champion in the individual time trial, testified last November: "I just wanted to test the range of the gun. I was stupid and wanted to hit a cat. To my surprise, I actually hit it. I didn't want to kill it and was even convinced that my gun wasn't lethal."

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But it was, the shot to the head immediately took the animal's life. Amati was disappointed after the judgement. "You can't shoot a pet and get away with a 4000 euro fine," said the politician. If Tiberi had done the same thing in Italy, he would have been sent to prison for at least four months. His racing team Trek-Segefredo has not yet commented on the incident.

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