The prime minister of Slovakia, Robert Fico was shot several times and seriously injured Wednesday while greeting supporters at an event, in an assassination attempt that shook the small country and reverberated throughout Europe.
Doctors were still fighting to save his life several hours after the 59-year-old pro-Russian leader was hit in the abdomen, Defense Minister Robert Kalina told reporters at the hospital where Fico was being treated for his wounds.
He said that the operation performed on Fico had not yet been completed and described his condition as “extraordinarily serious.”
Five gunshots were heard outside a cultural center in the town of Handlova, about 140 kilometers (85 miles) northeast of the capital, government officials said. Fico was shot while attending a government meeting in the city of 16,000, which was once a center for coal mining.
A suspect was arrested, and an initial investigation found “a clear political motivation” following the assassination attempt, Interior Minister Sutaj Estok said, speaking to reporters alongside the Defense Minister.
Fico has long been a divisive figure in Slovakia and beyond, but his return to power last year on a pro-Russian, anti-American platform sparked further concerns among fellow European Union members that he would further alienate his country from the West. .
His government has suspended arms shipments to Ukraine, and critics worry it will cause Slovakia, a NATO nation of 5.4 million, to abandon its pro-Western course and follow in the footsteps of Hungary under Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
Thousands of people have repeatedly demonstrated in the capital and other parts of Slovakia to protest Fico’s policies.
A message on his Facebook page says Fico was taken to a hospital in Banská Bystrica, 29 kilometers (17 miles) from Handlova, because it would take too long to reach Bratislava, the capital.
The attack comes at a time when the intensity of political campaigns increases, three weeks before the European Parliament elections. There are growing concerns that populists and nationalists similar to Fico will gain victories in the 27-member bloc.
But conventional politics was put aside as the nation faced the shock of the Fico attack.
“A physical attack against the prime minister is, first of all, an attack against a person, but it is also an attack against democracy,” outgoing President Zuzana Caputova, Fico’s political rival, said in a televised message. “All types of violence are unacceptable. The hateful rhetoric we have seen in society causes hateful actions. Please, let’s stop now.”
President-elect Peter Pellegrini, an ally of Fico, described the fact as “an unprecedented threat against Slovak democracy. If we express political opinions with guns in the square and not in the voting centers, we will be putting at risk everything we have built together in 31 years of Slovak sovereignty.”
The recent elections that brought Fico and his allies to power have highlighted deep social divisions, exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, which borders Slovakia.
Gábor Czímer, a political journalist at the Slovak news outlet Ujszo.com, said the results showed that “Slovak society was strongly divided into two camps”: one friendly towards Russia and the other striving to establish stronger connections with the European Union and the West.
“At the same time, I couldn’t imagine that this could lead to physical violence,” said Czimer.
US President Joe Biden said he was alarmed. ““We condemn this horrible act of violence,” he said in a statement.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in “a vile attack.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky denounced the violence against the head of government of the neighboring country.
“Every effort must be made to ensure that violence does not become the norm in any country, form or sphere”said.
The Slovak parliament has adjourned until further notice. The main opposition parties, Slovakia, Progressive and Freedom and Solidarity, canceled a protest against a controversial government plan to reform public media channels and said they would give the government full control of public radio and television.
The leader of Progressive Slovakia, Michal Simecka, called on all politicians to “refrain from any expression and action that could contribute to further increasing tension.”
Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala wished the Prime Minister a speedy recovery. ““We cannot tolerate violence, there is no place for it in society.” The Czech Republic and Slovakia made up Czechoslovakia until 1992.
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Source: Gestion
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