Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico was shot and seriously injured on Wednesday afternoon. According to the Slovakian government office, his life was still in danger on Wednesday evening. Shortly before midnight it was said that, according to his deputy Tomas Taraba, he would probably not die as a result of the attack. “As far as I know, the operation went well – and I think he will survive in the end,” Taraba told the BBC. Fico is currently not in a life-threatening situation. News service Aktuality.sk quoted a person familiar with the matter as saying Fico was in a stable condition following surgery. According to media reports, he was conscious.
This Thursday, the Slovak government has scheduled a special meeting for 11 a.m. At the same time, the National Security Council should also discuss the situation. In addition to the head of government, this includes the ministers of the interior and defense as well as other ministers from all three coalition parties.
Fico, along with the entire government cabinet, visited the small town of Handlová in the interior of Slovakia on Wednesday, about 160 kilometers from Bratislava. In the afternoon, Fico wanted to mingle with the crowd on the square in front of the cultural center, and the shots were fired there shortly before 3 p.m. The suspected attacker was arrested by police shortly afterwards.
The Slovak Interior Minister Matúš Šutaj Eštok said in the evening that the attacker fired five shots. A political motive is suspected, but initially there was no further information. Slovak media report that the 59-year-old prime minister suffered one gunshot wound to the stomach and two to the arm. Fico was operated on in a hospital in Banská Bystrica. Flying him to the capital Bratislava would take too long, it was said in the afternoon.
According to the daily newspaper Dennik N, which had a reporter on site, Fico fell to the ground after the shots; witnesses told the newspaper that they saw the prime minister bleeding. A video showed Fico being escorted to a government limousine by bodyguards. Shortly afterwards, police officers caught the suspected attacker. He is said to have shouted “Robo, come here” before firing. Several Slovak media outlets report that the attacker was a 71-year-old man who legally owned the weapon.
Fico had won votes with anti-Western and pro-Russian rhetoric
According to media reports, the 71-year-old is said to come from the town of Levice, 80 kilometers from Handlová. He is said to have previously worked for a security service and writes poems.
The government cabinet met on Wednesday morning for a meeting in the Handlová cultural center. It should be about the socio-economic situation in the former coal mining region. A press conference was to follow the meeting and Fico wanted to speak to citizens.
Robert Fico was re-elected Prime Minister of Slovakia in October, his fourth time in this post. His Smer-SD party became the strongest force in the election in September 2023 with a result of almost 23 percent. The founder and head of the Smer-SSD, which has recently become increasingly nationalistic, has been one of the most popular politicians in Slovakia for almost 30 years. But at the same time he polarizes like no other. Opponents call him “pro-Russian” and accuse him of wanting to lead Slovakia on a similar course to Viktor Orbán’s Hungary.
Fico governs in a three-party coalition with the left-wing populist party Hlas (Voice) and the right-wing nationalist party SNS. Fico won votes with clearly anti-Western and pro-Russian rhetoric; he rejects the acceptance of refugees as well as same-sex partnerships.
In 2018, Fico resigned following mass protests. At the time, critics held him indirectly responsible for the murder of the journalist Ján Kuciak and his girlfriend. Even after that, Fico did not give up his critical attitude towards journalists. He consciously avoids some media. Together with his coalition, he wants to dissolve and re-establish the public broadcaster RTVS in its current form. This Wednesday, Parliament discussed the corresponding draft law.
There have been attacks on politicians of all stripes before
President Zuzana Čaputová and opposition leader Michal Šimečka from the liberal Progressive Slovakia party described the attack as “brutal” and “horrific”. After the crime became known, two opposition parties canceled a planned protest in front of the RTVS building against media reform. Politicians from all opposition parties condemned the violent attack and wished Fico a speedy recovery.
Several government politicians in Bratislava blamed the opposition and journalists for the attack on the prime minister. For example, they described journalists as “repulsive pigs” and told the opposition: “This is your work.” Peter Pellegrini, a political companion of Fico’s, who was elected president by the people in April, said: “The assassination attempt on the government chairman threatens everything that Slovak democracy has achieved so far.”
He is horrified at what hatred against a different political opinion can lead to. After the presidential election, Fico accused some media outlets of fomenting hatred. He said at the beginning of April that he was just waiting for this to “lead to the murder of a government politician.” Interior Minister Šutaj Eštok announced increased police protection for politicians, but also journalists.
There have been attacks on politicians of all stripes in Slovakia before, especially in the past few months. President Čaputová had repeatedly called for protests to only be expressed peacefully. She herself did not run again after one term in office, partly because she had received death threats against herself and her daughters. Robert Fico had, among other things, insulted the president with vulgar words as a spy for the USA.
Politicians and heads of state around the world reacted with dismay to the attack. US President Joe Biden condemned the “terrible act of violence”. Chancellor Olaf Scholz called the shooting of Fico “unbearable.” Austria’s Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) wished him “that he recovers well from this cowardly attack.”
UN Secretary General António Guterres, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, EU Council President Charles Michel, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin were also shocked.