The Slovak Interior Ministry announced on Thursday the indictment for “attempted murder” of the man who shot and wounded Prime Minister Robert Fico on Wednesday. It is believed to be a 71-year-old man from the center of the country and identified by Slovak media as a local writer.
Slovak police have indicted the man who shot and wounded Prime Minister Robert Fico for “attempted murder”, the Interior Minister announced on Thursday. “Slovak police are working on a single version of the attack and the suspect is charged with attempted premeditated murder,” Matus Sutaj Estok told reporters, adding that the attack was “politically motivated.”
The suspect is said to be one of the founders of a literary club
The person suspected of shooting Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico is a 71-year-old man from the center of the country, identified by Slovak media as a local writer. “I think I can confirm it, yes,” Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok responded on Wednesday to journalists who questioned him about the identity of the shooter, who according to media reports is one of the founders of the Duha literary club (rainbow), in the town of Levice.
The press adds that he is the author of several collections of poetry and that he is a member of the official association of Slovak writers. The association confirmed on Facebook that he had been a member since 2015, and that if the facts were confirmed “the membership of this despicable person would be immediately canceled”.
Troubled videos published on social networks
The suspect’s son told news site aktuality.sk that his father had a legally registered firearm. Asked about his father’s feelings about Robert Fico, he replied: “I’ll tell you one thing: He didn’t vote for him. That’s all I can say.”
Several statements from the suspect are available on social networks. In a video posted online eight years ago, he said: “The world is full of violence and guns. People seem to be going crazy.” He also claimed to have founded a “Movement Against Violence” in Levice, which defines itself on its Facebook page as “an emerging political party whose goal is to prevent the spread of violence in society.”