WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The man who fatally stabbed Gdansk Mayor Paweł Adamowicz in 2019 was sentenced to life in prison by a Polish court on Thursday.

Stefan Wilmont stabbed the 53-year-old Adamowicz on stage during a life charity event on Jan. 13, 2019. Adamowicz died from his wounds the next day despite a blood transfusion and other efforts by doctors to save him. The killing shocked Poles and plunged the nation into grief.

Judge Aleksandra Kaczmarek said in her ruling that Wilmont had committed an “unprecedented murder” in Poland’s history.

The sentencing came after a three-year long investigation and a year-long trial. Wilmont’s lawyers said they would appeal the sentence.

The conservative ruling Law and Justice party has faced accusations that a hostile atmosphere created against Adamowicz and other socially liberal politicians spread by state media created fertile ground for the violence against him.

The Associated Press