- Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico was shot after a cabinet meeting in the town of Handlová.
- Fico was then taken to the hospital in Banská Bystrica and operated on. Several ministers described the 59-year-old’s condition as extremely serious.
- Police said the attacker had been arrested.
- Politicians around the world reacted with dismay
According to an entry on his Facebook profile, Fico was flown to Banska Bystrica by helicopter because transport to a hospital in the capital Bratislava would have taken too long.
He was taken to the hospital conscious, said a hospital spokeswoman. Robert Fico was hit in the abdomen, reported the broadcaster TA3. Later in the evening, Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok confirmed an “attempted murder with five shots”.
Fico is in critical condition. Defense Minister Robert Kalinák confirmed that the 59-year-old would undergo surgery in the evening and into the night. His condition is extremely serious. Interior Minister Matúš Šutaj-Eštok also spoke of a life-threatening situation.
Shots at the head of government
Police said the attacker had been arrested. According to eyewitnesses, after a cabinet meeting in Handlová, an elderly man shot Fico several times when he was greeting supporters at the exit of the House of Culture in Handlová. Eyewitnesses reported on television that five shots were fired.
The local television RTV Prievidza published a video of the crime: You can see a man pushing himself against the fence and shooting at the Prime Minister from close range.
Video footage shows security officers pushing the injured Fico into a government limousine and driving away.
Handlová is located about 190 kilometers northeast of Bratislava. The Prime Minister was there during a tour of the country’s regions.
Attackers with “political motive”
According to the government, the assassination attempt on the Prime Minister has a “political motive”. Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok said this to journalists in the evening at the clinic in Banska Bystrica.
According to information from the TV station TA3, the alleged perpetrator is a former employee of a private security service. This was not initially officially confirmed. Despite an information embargo, the broadcaster obtained a video recording from the police station. There, the alleged attacker says he does not agree with government policy.
Just a few days ago, Fico accused the liberal opposition of fomenting a climate of hostility against his government. Given the heated atmosphere, it cannot be ruled out that an act of violence could occur at some point.
Legend:
Robert Fico.
Reuters/Nadja Wohlleben
According to media reports, the alleged perpetrator is a 71-year-old man. Nothing is known about his motives. But one thing is clear: the attack took place in a very heated political climate, as SRF Eastern Europe correspondent Roman Fillinger says. Shortly after the attack, one of Fico’s deputies blamed his political opponents for the shooting. “That’s typical: political opponents treat each other with contempt,” says Fillinger. There have been fights in parliamentary debates in the past.
The right-wing politician Fico has been a defining figure in Slovak politics for twenty years. He has just started his fourth term as Prime Minister. Accordingly, he is certainly partly responsible for the poisonous political climate in the country, says the correspondent. Fico described President Zuzana Caputova as an “American agent”. And when she received death threats, it didn’t bother him. “The attack on Fico, however, is a completely different dimension: it certainly cannot be explained solely by the poisoned climate in Slovakia,” said Fillinger.
Numerous politicians shaken
Slovakian President Zuzana Caputova was shocked after the shooting of Prime Minister Robert Fico. “I condemn today’s brutal and ruthless attack on Prime Minister Robert Fico,” the politician wrote on Facebook. She was shocked.
Slovakian President-elect Peter Pellegrini condemned the attack on Prime Minister Robert Fico as an “unprecedented threat to Slovak democracy.” “If we express other political opinions with pistols in the squares and not in the polling stations, we endanger everything that we have built together in the 31 years of Slovak independence,” warned the social democratic politician.
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen spoke of a “hideous” attack. Such acts of violence would undermine democracy, our greatest asset. Swiss Federal President Viola Amherd was also shocked and condemned the act.