Professional cyclist Antonio Tiberi has been fined and suspended from his team for shooting dead a minister’s cat in San Marino.
The 21-year-old rider reportedly said he was trying out an air rifle and pointed it at the cat’s head and fired.
The ill-fated feline belonged to his neighbour, San Marino’s tourism and posts minister Federico Pedini Amati.
A court fined Mr Tiberi €4,000 ($4,250; £3,500) and his team Trek-Segafredo suspended him for 20 days.
“The cat didn’t bother anyone,” Mr Pedini Amati told the Corriere della Sera newspaper.
“It had been with us for a long time. My three-year-old daughter Lucia loved it. You cannot kill a pet and get away with a 4,000-euro fine,” he added.
Trek-Segafredo said it strongly condemned the “reprehensible act” and would donate Mr Tiberi’s suspended pay to an animal protection organisation.
The team “expects him to take necessary steps to express his remorse and become a better person,” the team’s statement said.
Mr Tiberi, who was a juniors time trial world champion in 2019, had recently moved to San Marino,
“I appreciated that the boy admitted the fact. Having said that, we don’t need to give these people residence,” said Mr Pedini Amati, a former leader of San Marino.