Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico was shot five times on Wednesday in the worst attack on a European leader in decades. Officials said the act was a politically motivated assassination attempt, raising concerns that Europe’s increasingly polarized and vitriolic politics could turn violent.
Fico, a veteran politician, underwent hours of emergency surgery after being seriously injured in a small town in central Slovakia. Hospital and government officials said Thursday that Fico’s condition had stabilized overnight but remained serious.
Here’s what we know about the shooting.
How did it happen?
Video from the scene showed Fico shot to death on Bannikov Square in the center of Handlova town, where the prime minister had held a government meeting.
The attacker can be seen standing with others behind a metal fence before taking a step forward and firing at Fico who came to greet them from a few feet away.
Mr. Fico hunched over and fell backwards on a bench as security officers pushed him into a black car. Fico was airlifted to a hospital in Banská Bystrica, a city near Handlova, according to Slovak officials.
How is Mr. Fico’s condition?
Deputy Prime Minister Robert Kalinak said Thursday morning outside the hospital where the prime minister was being treated that Fico’s condition stabilized overnight and that doctors were performing more surgeries to improve his condition.
Hospital director Miriam Lapunikova said Fico underwent five hours of surgery for multiple gunshot wounds. She said his condition remained “very serious” and he was still in intensive care.
Who is the shooter?
The country’s interior minister said on Thursday that a suspect had been charged, describing the man as a “lone wolf” who was not affiliated with any “radical political group.”
Authorities have not yet named the suspect, but they said preliminary evidence suggested the act was “clearly” politically motivated.
Slovak Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok wrote on Facebook: “For the first time in the 31 years of our democratic and sovereign republic, someone decided not to hold elections but to protest in the streets. Guns express political views.
Slovak President Zuzana Caputova called the assassination attempt an “attack on democracy.”
Estok said more information about the shooter would be released “in the coming days.”
What was the response?
In Slovakia, the assassination attempt heightened polarization and added acrimony to an already divided political landscape, with Fico’s allies accusing opponents of having “blood on their hands.” Lubos Blaha, a representative of Fico’s party Smer, said opponents and what he called the “liberal media” had “built a gallows” for the prime minister.
Abroad, the shootings drew condemnation from world leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin. Putin praised Fico for expressing pro-Russian views and said “there is no justification for this heinous crime.”
Viktor Orban, Prime Minister of Hungary and an ally of Mr. Fico, explain He was “deeply shocked by the heinous attack on my friend.”
The United States and the European Union also condemned. President Biden called the act a “horrible act of violence” and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called the attack “despicable.” social media.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also condemned the attack.
Who is Mr. Fico?
Mr. Fico, who has served as prime minister longer than any other Slovak leader, has portrayed himself as a champion of ordinary people and an enemy of liberal elites. Like Hungary’s Orban, Fico opposes immigration from outside Europe and aid to Ukraine.
He began his three-decade political career on the left but gradually embraced right-wing political views over the years, as did his party Smer.
Mr Fico served as prime minister from 2006 to 2010 and 2012 to 2018. Re-elected.
His critics describe some of Fico’s plans as an attempt to return Slovakia to the authoritarian Soviet era and criticize the Slovak government’s efforts to overhaul state broadcasting to remove what they see as liberal bias and limit foreign funding of NGOs. s hard work.
Report contributors: Andrew Higgins, Lauren Leatherby, Cassandra Winograd and Matthew M’Poke Biggar.
