Prague nightclub shooter’s 13-year sentence upheld by Supreme Court

Czechia’s Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by a man sentenced to 13 years in prison for shooting a kickboxer outside a nightclub in central Prague.

Robert Kulena fired six times following a mass fight outside the M1 club on Masná Street in Old Town in August 2023. One bullet passed through the victim’s thigh.

Supreme Court spokeswoman Gabriela Tomíčková confirmed the decision to ČTK. The court considered the appeal without a public hearing; its full reasoning has yet to be published.

The shooting occurred during the night leading into Aug. 25, 2023. According to prosecutors, an argument and physical confrontation between Kulena and the victim escalated into a broader fight involving clubgoers and security staff.

After the disturbance had been brought under control, Kulena fired at the kickboxer and fled. Police introduced extensive security measures during the search for the gunman, who eventually turned himself in.

Courts found Kulena guilty of attempted murder, disorderly conduct, illegal possession of a firearm and damage to property.

Kulena maintained that he had intended only to frighten the other man. He claimed the kickboxer had started the confrontation by bothering him about borrowing a lighter and slapping him on the head.

He also said he had found the pistol on the ground by chance and believed it was a gas pistol. The appeals court rejected that account, citing both his earlier testimony and surveillance footage.

In February, appeals panel chairman Petr Smrž said Kulena had previously acknowledged deliberately aiming his shots. The footage showed him targeting the victim’s torso from approximately 10 to 11 meters away and taking particular care when aiming the final shot, the judge said.

The court also emphasized that numerous people were on the street, putting others besides the intended target at risk.

Prague’s Municipal Court initially sentenced Kulena to nine years, below the statutory range of 12 to 20 years applicable in the case.

It justified the reduced sentence partly on the grounds that he had never previously served time in prison, that the offense remained an attempted murder rather than a completed killing, and that he had substantially admitted his actions.

Prague’s High Court concluded that the legal conditions for a sentence below the statutory minimum had not been met. It increased the prison term to 13 years.

The Supreme Court’s rejection leaves that sentence in place. Kulena can still file a constitutional complaint with the Constitutional Court, although that would be a separate challenge rather than another ordinary appeal.