A 71-year-old writer has been named as the suspect in Slovakia's prime minister's shooting.His aides say Fico is out of danger.
BRATISLAVA: The suspect held for allegedly shooting Slovak Prime Minister Roberto Fico is a 71-year-old writer from the heart of Europe, the interior minister announced on Wednesday after the media identified the man.
“Indeed, I think we can confirm this,” Interior Minister Matusz Stagi Estok told reporters when asked about reports identifying the man detained at the scene of the shooting in Handlova.
The gray-haired suspect was seen handcuffed on the ground shortly after Fico was shot several times after a government meeting in Handlova.
The populist prime minister was shot multiple times and seriously injured on Wednesday, but his deputy said he believed Fico would survive.
The prime minister was greeting supporters at an event when the assassination attempt shocked the small country and resonated across Europe in the weeks before the election.
“I think in the end he will survive,” Thomas Taraba told the BBC, adding: “At the moment his injuries are not life-threatening.”
Hours after the pro-Russian leader, 59, was punched in the stomach, doctors fought for Fico's life, Defense Minister Robert Kalina told reporters at the hospital where Fico was being treated. .
Five shots were fired 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 town of 16,000 people, which was once a center for coal mining.
Interior Minister Matusz Stasi Estok, briefing reporters alongside the Defense Minister, said a suspect was in custody and that initial investigations had found “clear political motives” behind the assassination attempt. .
According to media reports, the suspect is the founder of the DUHA (Rainbow) literary club and is from the town of Levice.
He is the author of three books of poetry and is a member of the official Slovak Writers' Association, according to reports that also carried his name.
The association confirmed on Facebook that the man had been a member since 2015, adding that if the identity of the shooter is confirmed, “this despicable individual's membership will be immediately revoked.”
The suspect's son told Slovak news site aktuality.sk: “I had no idea what my father was thinking, what he was planning, why the incident happened.''
His father was a legally registered gun owner, he said.
When asked if he felt any hatred towards Fico, his son replied: That's all I can say about that. ”
“In his youth, he was rebellious, but not aggressive,” Vlasta Kolarova, director of the local library in the man's hometown, told Dennik N. Daily.
Some political statements by the man, who AFP chose to remain anonymous, may be found on social media.
“The world is full of violence and weapons. People are going crazy,” he said in a video posted online eight years ago.
In the video, he also spoke about concerns about immigration and “hate and extremism,” saying European governments “have no means to counter this chaos.”
He also said in the video that he had founded the “Movement Against Violence” in Levice.
The movement, which also has a Facebook page, defines itself as “an emerging political party whose goal is to prevent the spread of violence in society.” This is to prevent the spread of war and hatred in Europe. ”
mitotic diagram
Fico has long been a divisive figure in Slovakia and abroad, but his return to power last year with a pro-Russian and anti-American message has raised concerns in the European Union that he could push his country further away from the Western mainstream. Even greater concerns arose among (EU) member states. .
At the start of his fourth term as prime minister, his government halted arms deliveries to Ukraine, and critics say he has led Slovakia, a NATO country of 5.4 million people, to abandon its pro-Western course. I fear that it will lead us down the same path as Hungary. Under populist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
Thousands of people repeatedly rallied in the capital and across Slovakia to protest Fico's policies.
According to a message posted on Fico's Facebook account, he was taken to a hospital in Banská Bystrica, 29 kilometers (18 miles) from Handlova, because it took too long to get to the capital, Bratislava.
The attack comes as political campaigns intensify three weeks before pan-European elections to elect members of the European Parliament. There are growing concerns that populists and nationalists like Fico could benefit in the 27-nation bloc.
But as the country faced the shock of an attempt on Fico's life, normal politics were put aside.
“A physical attack on the prime minister is first and foremost an attack on a person, but it is also an attack on democracy,” Fico's political opponent and outgoing President Zuzana Caputova said in a televised statement. “Violence of any kind is unacceptable. The hateful rhetoric we are witnessing in our society leads to hateful actions. Please, let's stop.”
President-elect Peter Pellegrini, an ally of Fico, called the shooting an “unprecedented threat to Slovak democracy.” If we express other political opinions with pistols in squares instead of in voting booths, we will endanger everything we have built together during Slovakia's 31 years of sovereignty. ”
The recent elections that brought Fico and his allies to power highlighted deep divisions in society exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, Slovakia's neighbor to the east.
Gabor Zimel, a political journalist with the Slovak news outlet Ujszo.com, said Fico's return to power revealed signs that “Slovak society is deeply divided into two camps”, one with Russia One said it was friendly, and the other called for stronger ties with the EU. And the West.
“At the same time, I couldn't imagine that it would lead to physical violence,” Zimel said.
Slovakia's Interior Minister Estok told reporters outside the hospital that the country was “on the brink of civil war” due to political tensions.
“Such hateful comments are being made on social networks today. Please, please stop them now,” he said.
US President Joe Biden said he was alarmed by the assassination attempt. “We condemn this horrific act of violence,” he said in his statement.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg posted on social media platform X that he was “shocked and appalled” by the attempt on Fico's life. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called it a “despicable attack”.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy condemned the violence against the neighboring country's government leaders.
“Every effort must be made to ensure that violence does not become the norm in any country, in any form or territory,” he said.
The Slovak parliament has been adjourned until further notice. The main opposition parties, Progressive Slovakia and Freedom and Solidarity, have called off planned protests against the government's controversial plans to overhaul public broadcasting, which would give the government full control of public radio and television. .
Slovakia's progressive leader Michal Simecka called on all politicians to “refrain from expressions and measures that could lead to further escalation of tensions.”
Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala wished him a speedy recovery. “We cannot tolerate violence. There is no place for violence in our society.”
The Czech Republic and Slovakia formed Czechoslovakia until 1992.
