After assassination attempt in Slovakia
Fico makes remarkable first statement
05.06.2024, 20:50
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Robert Fico addresses the public directly for the first time in a video message. In a statement, the Slovakian head of government first forgives the man who almost killed him. Then the controversial politician uses the opportunity to lash out at the opposition.
Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico says he will gradually return to work around the end of next month following the assassination attempt by a 71-year-old. The 59-year-old announced this in a lengthy video message. Fico, who barely survived the attack, spoke of a “small miracle” in this context.
The left-wing populist also announced that he would “take the first step. And that is forgiveness.” He felt no hatred “towards the stranger who shot me. I will not take legal action against him and I will not demand compensation,” Fico said in his first public statement since the attack.
Instead, the head of government wanted to let the amateur writer, who attacked him and almost killed him out of dissatisfaction with his policies, “clarify in his own head what he did and why he did it.” Fico also used the video message to lash out at the Slovak opposition and make serious accusations.
“In the end, it is obvious,” said Fico, that the man “was just a messenger of evil and political hatred, which the politically unsuccessful and frustrated opposition in Slovakia developed to unmanageable proportions.” It is also to be expected that the “anti-government media, the foreign-funded political non-governmental organizations and the opposition” will begin to downplay the assassination attempt. He has no reason to believe that it was the act of a single madman, said Fico.
Prime Minister warned of politician murder
In April, Fico shared his assessment on Facebook that the rising tensions in Slovakia could lead to the assassination of a politician. He accused the media of stoking the tensions. Fico has long been controversial. His government has taken steps to reform public broadcasting. Critics fear that this would give the government full control over public television and radio. Fico’s plans to revise the penal code have also raised concerns that he is pursuing an autocratic course.
Fico has also been criticized for being pro-Russian – something he is fighting against. In the past, the 59-year-old had opposed aid to Ukraine. In his current video message, the Slovakian head of government also expressed his opposition to this. He claimed that the EU and NATO would only allow one opinion, namely “to continue the war in Ukraine at any cost in order to weaken the Russian Federation.”
Fico was shot in the stomach area in May outside a cultural center in the town of Handlova. Video footage showed him approaching onlookers behind barriers and trying to shake hands. Then a man stepped forward, stretched out his arm and fired shots. The attacker later said, among other things, that he had attacked Fico because of his refusal to continue providing military aid to Ukraine.