At least some seem concerned that the attack by pro-Ukrainian militants on the prime minister of a NATO country earlier this year was unsuccessful in killing its target, with a bullet lodged in the office of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico.
Constitutional officers reviewing a letter addressed to Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico examined the suspicious package on Wednesday and found in an X-ray that it contained a bullet. Bratislava regional police spokesman Michal Şejkh confirmed that police had taken over the investigation into the death threats, which came just months after Fico himself was shot multiple times at close range in an assassination attempt targeting political prisoners.
Interior Minister Matusz Štai Eštok, an ally of Mr Fico, said it was only a matter of time before the sender was found.
Slovak publications Concert Hall Notes Slovakia's Prosecutor General Maroš Zilinka said pumping bullets into the prime minister was a reckless and insensitive act, as well as a criminal act. Calling for restraint of emotions, Zilinka – following a similar appeal already made after Fico was shot – said: “I appeal strongly to basic decency and humanity in the whole of society. The cynicism and hatred that are rampant in our society must stop.”
Prime Minister Fitcho was shot at close range as he was leaving a political rally at his local town hall. The left-wing populist politician was about to shake hands with waiting members of the public before boarding his official vehicle when a left-wing poet and activist fired five shots at him.
Fico was wounded in the abdomen, lower back, arms and legs, and his small intestine was punctured in five places. He was in critical condition, but was taken by helicopter to hospital, where he underwent emergency surgery and was saved.
After his arrest, the gunman, a political activist identified as Juraj Cintula, reportedly expressed his intention to cooperate with police and confessed that he decided to shoot Fico because of his stance on the Ukrainian war, which has prevented Slovakia from becoming embroiled in the conflict like other NATO countries.
While Chintura said he opposed some of Fito's policies and political reforms, the document said the perpetrator's main complaint was the government's refusal to provide military aid to Ukraine. The document said the perpetrator's “main desire is military aid for Ukraine” and that he was concerned that Fito's government was viewed by the European Union as “Judas.”
Mr Fico won Slovakia's elections last year on a pledge to extricate the country from Ukraine's war, which he has argued is better resolved through negotiations rather than fighting, even if it means Ukraine ceding some territory to Moscow.
Fico is clearly not the only Western political leader to have suffered an assassination attempt this year, the Slovakian said when US presidential candidate Donald Trump was grazed by a bullet that it was the work of those trying to silence him. He said: [Donald Trump] They try to silence him, and when that fails, they turn on the public, and the losers pick up their guns.”
