In the summer of 2022, professional cyclist Antonio Tiberi will buy an air rifle. He tries it out and kills a cat with a well-aimed shot. It is that of the Minister of Tourism of San Marino. A court has now sentenced him to a fine. Lucky for him that he doesn't live in Italy.
Antonio Tiberi is considered one of Italy's greatest cycling talents, but the 21-year-old has now made headlines for a completely different reason. A court at his home in San Marino sentenced him to a fine of 4,000 euros, according to a report by the "Corriere della Serra" - because he shot the tourism minister's cat.
His racing team Trek-Segafredo then announced that they knew nothing about the incident and immediately suspended Tiberi for at least 20 days without pay. Tiberi's salary is to be donated to an animal charity. The professional will miss three races, and the team expressly did not rule out an extension of the suspension.
In the summer of 2022, Tiberi bought an air rifle and wanted to try it out. So he first shot a traffic sign from the window of his apartment. hit. Then he decided to aim for a cat's head. hit. The cat belonged to Federico Amati, the Minister of Tourism of San Marino. He called the police and the case ended up in court. There, Tiberi, once a junior world champion in the individual time trial, testified last November, according to the report: "I just wanted to test the range of the gun. I was stupid and then wanted to hit a cat. To my surprise, I actually hit it. I wanted it not kill and was even convinced that my weapon is not lethal."
But it was, the shot in the head immediately took the animal out of life. After the verdict, Amati was disappointed. "You can't shoot a pet and get away with a fine of 4,000 euros," said the politician. If Tiberi had done the same in Italy, he would have been jailed for at least four months.
Last year, French soccer player Kurt Zouma was sentenced to 180 hours of community service for animal cruelty. He kicked, threw shoes at, and hit his cat like a soccer ball. In addition, the defender of the English first division club West Ham United was not allowed to keep cats for five years and had to pay around 9,000 pounds (10,570 euros) in court costs. The cats had previously allegedly damaged a chair in the house.
"The cat was dependent on you, you had to take care of it," the judge said at the time. "You have to realize that others look up to you and many young people aspire to emulate you." The judge also said Zouma and his younger brother Yoan, who filmed the incident laughing, showed "genuine remorse."
The video had not only triggered widespread outrage in England. West Ham United had strongly condemned Zouma's behaviour, fined him heavily and made donations to several national and international animal welfare organisations. His sponsor Adidas announced the Hammers professional.
