Slovakia prime minister Robert Fico has surgery after being shot in assassination attempt | Slovakia
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Prime Minister of Slovakia, Robert Ficowas left with life-threatening injuries after an assassination attempt that sparked warnings across Europe of rising political violence.
Video captured on Wednesday appeared to show the moment five shots were fired at Fico, 59, as he shook hands with a small group of supporters in the town of Handlova, about 90 miles (150 km) northeast of the capital.
Speaking later in the evening, Slovak Defense Minister Robert Kaliniak said Fico was in an “extremely serious” condition. After three and a half hours of surgery, the prime minister is still undergoing surgery, he added.
Medical workers in the town of Banska Bystrica were “fighting for the life” of Fico, who suffered “serious polytrauma after several shots,” Kaliniak said.
Late on Wednesday, Deputy Prime Minister Tomas Taraba told the BBC he thought the operation had gone well.
“I think he will survive in the end,” Taraba said, adding: “He’s not in a life-threatening situation at this point.”
Interior Minister Matusz Šutaj Eštok told reporters: “We suspect that the attacker was politically motivated.”
A suspect has been detained, the country’s president said in a televised statement.
Local reports later identified the alleged shooter as Juraj S, a 71-year-old writer and poet from Levice, south-central Slovakia, who had spoken on YouTube about his desire to start a political movement.
The son of the alleged shooter told news outlet Aktuality.sk that his father was a legal gun permit holder.
Video published online appeared to show the alleged shooter in custody, saying he disagreed with the government’s policies, particularly what he described as the “liquidation” of the media.
Fico, a veteran populist politicianreturned to power in Slovakia after elections last year, his success partly fueled by promises to stop military aid to Ukrainecriticism of sanctions against Russia and campaigns against LGBTQ+ rights.
The first months of his return proved tense and polarizing, with thousands repeatedly taking to the streets across the country to protest government plans, including a media reform that critics warned would threaten press freedom.
The shooting comes three weeks before European Parliament elections, with polls suggesting populist and hard-right parties in the 27-nation bloc will win.
This was announced by sources from the European Commission the attack risks igniting further violence in the political landscape.
In a statement, the liberal political group Renew said it was “increasingly alarmed by the growing polarization in our political sphere, fueled by extremist ideologies, both left and right.”
“This climate of heightened division lays the groundwork for an environment in which acts of violence are more likely to occur and also to be wrongly justified by those who seek to disrupt and dominate rather than engage and debate” , is added to it.
The warning resonated in Germany, where three elected officials were recently assaulted in less than a week. Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he was alarmed by Fizzo’s firing. “The news of the cowardly assassination attempt on Slovak Prime Minister Fico shocked me deeply,” he wrote to X. “Violence should have no place in European politics.”
The reaction from some in Fico’s party in Slovakia, however, hinted that the incident could worsen the country’s already fraught political climate.
Ljubos Blaha, an MP from Fico’s party, took aim at critics, linking them to the attack.
“You, the liberal media and progressive politicians are to blame. Robert Fico is fighting for his life because of your hatred,” Blaha said.
Speaking to reporters, Shutay Esztok called on politicians and others to stop “spreading hate” on social media. “What started now was sown by many of you, by your hatred,” he said. Defense Minister Kaliniak described the shooting as a clear “political attack”.
Others tried to strike a more moderate tone. Outgoing President Zuzana Czaputova, a political rival of Fico, described the violence as “unacceptable” in a televised statement. “The hateful rhetoric we witness in society leads to hateful actions,” she added. “Please let’s stop.”
Peter Pellegrini, Slovakia’s newly elected president and an ally of Fico, described the incident as an “unprecedented threat” to Slovak democracy.
“If we express other political opinions with guns in the squares and not in the polling stations, we are jeopardizing everything we have built together in 31 years of Slovak sovereignty,” he said.
A veteran of Slovak politics, Fico has taken more extreme positions in recent years, from harsh criticism of Western allies to threats to veto a future invitation for Ukraine to join NATO.
When news of the shooting broke, Slovakia’s main opposition parties, Progressive Slovakia and Freedom and Solidarity, said they had called off a protest against the government’s controversial media reform plans.
Progressive Slovakia leader Michal Šimečka said on social media that he was “shocked and horrified” by the shooting. “We unequivocally and categorically condemn any violence,” he said. “At the same time, we call on all politicians to refrain from any expressions and steps that may contribute to a further increase in tension.
Condemnation of the attack quickly poured in from across Europe and beyond. Among the first to comment was Petr Fiala, the Czech prime minister who describes it as “shocking”. “We should not tolerate violence, it should have no place in society,” he said.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he was “shocked to hear this terrible news”, while Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky described the attack on Fico as “horrific”. US President Joe Biden said he was concerned. “We condemn this appalling act of violence,” he said.
Viktor Orbán, Hungary’s prime minister and a close Fico ally, said he was “deeply shocked by the disgusting attack”. “We pray for his health and speedy recovery! God bless him and his country!” he posted on X.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, described it as a “vile attack”.
“Such acts of violence have no place in our society and undermine democracy, our most precious common good,” she said. “My thoughts are with Prime Minister Fico and his family.”
In recent years, several incidents involving serious violence in Slovakia have made global headlines.
In 2022, two people were killed and another injured in a shooting outside an LGBT venue in Bratislava.
In 2018, tens of thousands of Slovaks rallied to demand Fico’s resignation after investigative journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancee Martina Kushnirova were shot dead in their home. At the time, police said Kuciak’s death was “most likely” related to his investigation into alleged links between Slovakia’s top politicians and the Italian mafia.
Additional reporting by Lisa O’Carroll in Brussels and Sarah Chinkurova in Bratislava. Agencies also contributed to this report
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