Slovakia, an EU and NATO member, has not had much experience with political violence. Along with Slovakia’s EU allies, Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Joe Biden expressed shock and denounced the shooting.
News From World : Prime Minister Robert Fico of Slovakia was shot and injured on Wednesday in an attempted assassination that shocked his small country in Central Europe and sparked outcry from around the world. Fico faces life-threatening injuries.
The gunman was identified by Slovak media as a 71-year-old man, but it was not immediately apparent why he did it.
Slovakia, an EU and NATO member, has not had much experience with political violence. Along with Slovakia’s EU allies, Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Joe Biden expressed shock and denounced the shooting.
After chairing a government meeting in the central Slovak town of Handlova, Fico, 59, was taken to the hospital. The statement said that because of his severe condition, he could not be flown to Bratislava and was instead flown by helicopter to the regional capital, Banska Bystrica, for immediate medical attention.
As Fico emerged from a building to shake hands with a group of people who had gathered to welcome him, a Reuters witness heard three or four gunshots. A man was then forced to the ground by police.
“Today at the government’s off-site meeting in Handlova, there was an attempt to assassinate Prime Minister Robert Fico,” a statement from the government office stated.
According to Slovak news outlets, the gunman was a member of the Slovak Society of Writers, the author of three poetry collections, and a former mall security guard. According to his son, who was quoted by Atkuality.sk, his father had a valid gun license.
“My father’s intentions, plans, and actions are completely unknown to me,” the shooter’s son was quoted by news outlet Aktuality.sk.
Four gunshots were heard, according to broadcaster TA3, and the left-wing prime minister was struck in the abdomen.
Reporters were informed by Lubica Valkova, 66, that she did not think she would wake up from this. “In Slovakia, this kind of thing just isn’t possible.”
VETERAN LEADER
Fico, who became prime minister again in October of last year for the fourth time, has come under fire from some quarters for adopting a more pro-Russian line in the conflict in Ukraine and for starting media and criminal law reforms that have sparked demonstrations and raised questions about the rule of law.
In a telegram to President Zuzana Caputova of Slovakia, Putin described the shooting as a “monstrous” crime and said, “I know Robert Fico as a courageous and strong-minded man.” It is my sincere hope that these attributes will enable him to weather this trying time.
“We condemn this horrific act of violence,” Biden said in a statement offering Slovakia U.S. assistance.
The deputy speaker of parliament and deputy leader of the prime minister’s SMER-SSD party, Lubos Blaha, a close ally of Fico, accused the opposition and the “liberal media” of fostering the environment that resulted in the shooting.
Blaha remarked, “On behalf of SMER-SSD, I would like to strongly denounce what transpired in Handlova today and at the same time express profound disgust over what you have committed here in previous years.” “You, the opposition in politics, and the liberal media. What hate you inflicted upon Robert Fico.
The largest opposition party in Slovakia, Progressive Slovakia, canceled its scheduled demonstration against government reforms pertaining to public broadcasters on Wednesday night.
“We urge all elected officials to abstain from any remarks and actions that might lead to a worsening of the situation,” stated Michal Simecka, the head of Progressive Slovakia, a liberal pro-Western party.
Over the course of his three-decade career, Fico has alternated between mainstream pro-European views and nationalistic stances against US and EU policies. Additionally, he has demonstrated a readiness to alter course in response to shifting political circumstances or public opinion.
Fico, a supporter of Hungary’s prime minister Viktor Orban, has expressed opposition to allowing Kyiv to join NATO in the future and has grown more critical of Western assistance for Ukraine in its fight against Russian invasion forces. In 2018, amid widespread protests brought on by the contract killing of journalist Jan Kuciak, who had been investigating high-level corruption, Fico was forced to step down as prime minister.
The divisions that still exist in Slovak society were made worse by those protests.
Peter Pellegrini, the incoming president of Slovakia, has returned home after cutting short a trip abroad, according to a representative for his HLAS party.
[…] Following an attempted murder, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico battles for his life. […]