Prime Minister Roberto Fico, a Slovak political figure known for his defiance of other European Union leaders, was seriously injured after being shot five times in a central Slovakian town on Wednesday and underwent emergency surgery for several hours. officials announced. This appears to be a politically motivated assassination attempt.
His deputy, Thomas Taraba, told the BBC that the operation appeared to have gone well. “I think ultimately he will survive,” he said.
The shooting was the most serious attack on a European leader in decades and drew shock and condemnation from Slovak officials and other European leaders, adding to Europe's increasingly polarized and toxic politics. It sparked fears that the dispute was tipping toward violence.
The incident was recorded on video, with Fico, 59, approaching a small group of people behind a waist-high metal fence in a public square in the town of Handlova, when a man stepped forward. The footage showed him firing a gun. It's a few feet away. Five shocks were heard.
With the first bang and more reports ringing out, Mr. Fico buckled at the waist and fell backwards onto the bench. The guards then pushed him into a black Audi several feet away and carried him halfway to the car's rear door. He was taken to a local hospital and airlifted to another hospital for surgery.
Security officials at the scene of the shooting tackled the suspect to the ground, and officials said initial evidence indicated a political motive. Authorities have not revealed the identity of the suspect, but Slovak news outlets reported him as a 71-year-old poet. The country's Interior Minister Matusz Stagi Estoque said further information would be released “in the coming days”.
Slovakia's President Zuzana Caputova, whose position is largely ceremonial, said in a statement that “the shooting of the prime minister is above all an attack on the human body, but also an attack on democracy.”
The shooting also drew condemnation from world leaders, including President Biden and Russian leader Vladimir V, who called it a “horrific act of violence.” President Putin praised Fico as a “courageous and strong-willed man.”
Fico started his 30-year political career on the left, but over the years he has drifted to the right, as has the party he founded, Sumer. He served as prime minister from 2006 to 2010 and from 2012 to 2018, before returning to power in last year's election. After he was ousted in 2018 amid street protests, he was re-elected on a platform of social conservatism, nationalism and generous welfare programs.
Mr. Fico portrays himself as a militant fighter for the common people and an enemy of liberal elites and immigrants from outside Europe, working with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to oppose aid to Ukraine and challenged the mainstream opinion.
At home, his critics have accused him of undermining the independence of the press, opposed efforts to restrict foreign funding to civil society groups and called him a threat to democracy. They also accused Fico of trying to return Slovakia to the repressive days of the Soviet bloc.
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Mr. Fico was in Handlova to hold a government meeting, followed by a nearly hour-long press conference. He had just come out of those events when he was attacked.
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Slovakia's parliament has suspended its meetings and said it is “significantly” tightening security measures. Some of Fico's MPs suggested that liberal opponents may have created the atmosphere for the shooting.
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Michal Šimetzka, leader of the opposition Progressive Slovakia, said he shared the “horror” of the attack, stressing that the attackers were not members of his movement and were not associated with his party in any way.
Pavol Strba and Gaya gupta Contributed to the report.