‘Lone wolf’ suspect in Slovak PM’s taking pictures charged with tried homicide | EUROtoday

Issued on: 16/05/2024 – 14:56

4 min

“Slovak police are working with a single version of the attack and the suspect is charged with attempted murder with premeditation,” Sutaj Estok informed reporters.

“This is a lone wolf whose actions were accelerated after the presidential election since he was dissatisfied with its outcome,” he added, referring to Slovakia’s 2024 presidential election.

The gunman shot Fico, 59, 5 instances, initially leaving the prime minister in important situation and present process surgical procedure hours in a while Wednesday night.

Defence Minister Robert Kalinak informed a information briefing hours earlier that Fico had suffered “serious polytrauma” after a number of shot wounds.

“I was very shocked … fortunately as far as I know the operation went well – and I guess in the end he will survive … he’s not in a life-threatening situation at this moment,” Slovak Deputy Prime Minister and Environment Minister Tomas Taraba informed the BBC’s Newshour.

Taraba stated one bullet went by means of Fico’s abdomen and a second hit a joint.

The taking pictures within the central Slovak city of Handlova, which Slovak media stated was carried out by a 71-year-old man, surprised the small central European nation and drew worldwide condemnation.

Slovakia, a member of NATO and the European Union, has little historical past of political violence. Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Joe Biden joined Slovakia’s EU companions in expressing shock and condemnation of the taking pictures.

The nation of 5.4 million has seen polarised political debate in recent times, together with the hard-fought presidential election final month that helped tighten Fico’s grip on energy.

Divisive politics

Since returning as prime minister final October, Fico has shifted coverage rapidly. Opposition critics name it an influence seize.

His authorities has scaled again help for Ukraine whereas opening dialogue with Russia, sought to weaken punishments for corruption and dismantled a particular prosecutor’s workplace, and is revamping the RTVS public broadcaster regardless of calls to guard media freedom.

Read extraBodybuilding, quick vehicles and misogyny: Slovakia’s populist Robert Fico returns to energy

Fico has lengthy been important of Slovakia’s mainstream media, refusing to talk to some retailers. Members of his get together blasted media and opposition actions in latest months.

“I ask all to stop piling attacks, expressions of hate, on social networks, in the media, which are aimed at that or another political camp, regardless if it concerns the (government) coalition or the opposition,” Sutaj Estok stated.

After the assault, Fico was rushed to hospital in Handlova the place he had been chairing a authorities assembly. He was then transported by helicopter to regional capital Banska Bystrica for pressing therapy, it stated, including that his situation was too severe for him to be taken to Bratislava.

A Reuters witness heard pictures as Fico exited a constructing to shake fingers with a crowd of people that had been ready to greet him. Police then wrestled a person to the bottom.

Slovak information media reported the shooter was a former safety guard at a shopping center, an creator of three collections of poetry and a member of the Slovak Society of Writers. News outlet Aktuality.sk cited his son as saying his father was the authorized holder of a gun licence.

“I have absolutely no idea what my father intended, what he planned, what happened,” it quoted the son as saying.

Broadcaster TA3 reported the leftist prime minister had been hit within the stomach within the assault.

“I don’t think I will wake up from this,” 66-year-old Lubica Valkova informed reporters on the scene. “This kind of thing just can’t happen in Slovakia.”

Veteran chief

Fico, a dominant power in Slovakia for twenty years, has drawn criticism for taking a extra pro-Russian stance within the Ukraine battle.

Describing the taking pictures as a “monstrous” crime, Putin stated in a telegram despatched to Slovakia’s President Zuzana Caputova: “I know Robert Fico as a courageous and strong-minded man. I very much hope that these qualities will help him to survive this difficult situation.”

Biden supplied US assist to Slovakia, saying in a press release: “We condemn this horrific act of violence.”

Slovakia’s largest opposition get together Progressive Slovakia referred to as off a deliberate protest and referred to as for restraint to keep away from escalating tensions. Parliament suspended debate indefinitely after the assault.

In his profession, Fico has moved between the pro-European mainstream and nationalistic positions against EU and US insurance policies. He has additionally proven a willingness to vary course relying on public opinion or modified political realities.

An admirer of Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Fico has grown more and more important of Western help for Ukraine in its battle with invading Russian forces.

Fico was pressured to resign as premier amid mass protests in 2018 triggered by the contract killing of Jan Kuciak, a journalist who had been investigating high-level corruption. Those protests exacerbated divisions in Slovak society that also linger.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)