Robert Fico: Prime Minister of Slovakia in hospital after photographs have been fired | EUROtoday

DSlovak Prime Minister Robert Fico seems to have survived an emergency operation following an assassination try. “As far as I know, the operation went well – and I think he will survive in the end,” his deputy Tomas Taraba instructed the BBC late final evening. Currently, Fico isn’t in a life-threatening state of affairs, he mentioned.

The authorities workplace in Bratislava and a number of other ministers had beforehand mentioned Fico's life was in peril after a person shot him within the city of Handlova within the afternoon. There Fico held a cupboard assembly within the House of Culture.

The politician was taken by rescue helicopter to a hospital within the city of Banská Bystrica – a superb 30 kilometers from Handlova. The information website aktuality.sk, citing rescue staff, reviews that Fico was aware in the course of the transport.

Handlova is positioned round 150 kilometers northeast of the capital Bratislava. The workforce defined that transport to the capital was not attainable. “The next few hours will be crucial,” it mentioned.

According to the federal government, the assault had a “political motive”. Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok mentioned this to journalists on the clinic in Banska Bystrica. “There is no doubt about that,” added Defense Secretary Robert Kalinak.

Eyewitnesses instructed the TV information channel TA3 that at the very least 4 photographs have been heard in entrance of the House of Culture in Handlova when Fico went outdoors after the cupboard assembly to mingle with the inhabitants and shake fingers. A shot hit him within the chest. The Prime Minister then fell to the bottom.

A video printed by a number of on-line media confirmed companions speeding the injured man right into a automobile to quickly carry him to security.

The video exhibits the alleged attacker being arrested on the opposite aspect of a barrier. According to media reviews from aktuality.sk and the TV channel TA3, the attacker is alleged to be Juraj C., a 71-year-old former worker of a non-public safety service. But he’s additionally mentioned to have labored as a author or artist. His arrest was not initially formally confirmed.

After the assault, the police evacuated the House of Culture the place the federal government assembly had been held. The three-party authorities led by Fico recurrently holds conferences outdoors Bratislava.

TV station exhibits video of the suspected attacker from the police station

Despite an data embargo, TA3 obtained a video recording from the police station. In it, the dazed-looking alleged attacker says: “I do not agree with government policy.” As a selected instance, he cited in an vague voice the federal government's deliberate dissolution of the general public radio and tv RTVS, towards which hundreds of individuals have been demonstrating for weeks.

The decision was additionally the topic of a heated debate in Parliament in Bratislava on Wednesday. After the assault grew to become identified, Deputy Speaker of Parliament Lubos Blaha postponed an ongoing parliamentary session till additional discover, the TASR information company reported.

Culture Minister Martina Simkovicova desires to dissolve the general public broadcaster RTVS and change it with a brand new establishment. She has the approval of her coalition companions, who’ve repeatedly accused RTVS of being partial. The opposition events, however, accuse the federal government of wanting to switch the radio and tv RTVS, which polls present is reliable, with a propaganda station. However, it was initially unclear whether or not there was a connection to the assault and the controversy.

A couple of days in the past, Fico warned of violence

President Zuzana Caputova mentioned the assault was additionally an assault on democracy. She condemned the “brutal and reckless attack.” She added: “I wish Robert Fico a lot of strength at this critical moment so that he can recover from the attack.” Her designated successor Peter Pellegrini spoke of an “unprecedented threat to Slovak democracy.”

Pellegrini canceled a visit overseas. He is taken into account an in depth ally of Fico, though he based his personal celebration Hlas 4 years in the past as a splinter from Fico's left-national Smer. Heads of state and authorities from different nations, together with Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), additionally reacted with dismay to the assault.

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International reactions

A couple of days in the past, Fico himself accused the liberal opposition of making a local weather of hostility towards the federal government. It can’t be dominated out that an act of violence will happen sooner or later in such a local weather.

The 59-year-old is co-founder of his celebration Smer. Located within the “Socialist International”, their politics are additionally criticized as populist. He was Prime Minister from 2006 to 2010 and from 2012 to 2018 and has been Prime Minister once more since 2023.

Most lately, Fico irritated individuals by saying that Ukraine was a rustic managed by the USA. Slovakia would block Kiev from becoming a member of NATO. However, throughout a go to to Uzhhorod, proper on the Slovak-Ukrainian border, Fico mentioned that regardless of variations of opinion, his nation would proceed to offer humanitarian support and wouldn’t block personal arms offers. In phrases of home coverage, Fico is accused of restructuring the state in his personal pursuits, following the instance of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.