Slovakia’s prime minister was shot multiple times and seriously injured in an assassination attempt on Wednesday, but is expected to survive, his deputy announced.
Defense Minister Robert Kalina told reporters that doctors struggled for several hours to save Prime Minister Robert Fico, who was shot in the abdomen while greeting supporters in front of a cultural center in the town of Handlova. he said.
Deputy Prime Minister Thomas Taraba told the BBC: “I think ultimately he will survive,” adding: “At this point his injuries are not life-threatening.”
Interior Minister Matusz Stasi Estok said the suspect was quickly arrested after Wednesday’s attack and that an initial investigation had revealed “clear political motives.”
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Rescue workers drove Slovakia’s Prime Minister Roberto Fico to hospital after a shocking assassination attempt on Wednesday. (Jan Kroslak/TASR, via AP)
The assassination attempt on the 59-year-old, which occurred just weeks before the election, shocked the small country and echoed concerns across Europe.
Fico’s political rival, outgoing president Zuzana Caputova, said: “A physical attack on the prime minister is first of all an attack on a person, but it is also an attack on democracy.” “Violence of any kind is unacceptable. The hateful rhetoric we are witnessing in our society leads to hateful actions. Please stop.”
Slovakia’s populist Prime Minister Roberto Fico was shot and wounded at an event Wednesday afternoon, according to his Facebook profile. (AP Photo/Gert Vanden Weingart)
President-elect Peter Pellegrini, an ally of Mr Fico, called the shootings “an unprecedented threat to Slovak democracy. “If we do so, we will be jeopardizing everything we have built over 31 years together.” Years of Slovak sovereignty. ”
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy also condemned the violence.
“Every effort should be made to ensure that violence does not become the norm in any country, form or territory,” he said.
Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala joined other world leaders in wishing him a speedy recovery: “We cannot tolerate violence. There is no place for violence in society.”
The Czech Republic and Slovakia formed Czechoslovakia until 1992.
A man accused of shooting and killing Slovak Prime Minister Roberto Fico during an event in the Slovak city of Handlova on Wednesday was arrested by police shortly after the incident. (Radovan Stoklasa/TASR, via AP)
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Fico, a divisive figure in Slovakia, returned to power last year after campaigning on a pro-Russian, anti-American platform.
At the time, European Union member states expressed concern that the president could lead Slovakia, a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) with a population of 5.4 million, to abandon its pro-Western policies.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
