Slovak Prime Minister Fico listed in serious condition day after assassination attempt

(CN) — Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico was in stable but very serious condition on Thursday, a day after a 71-year-old man shot him, apparently out of anger over Fico’s polarizing politics, including a refusal to arm Ukraine and an attempt to overhaul Slovakia’s public broadcaster.

Fico, 59, remained in intensive care at a hospital in Bankska Bystrica, a city in west-central Slovakia near Handlova, where he was shot Wednesday afternoon as he met supporters following a government meeting.

He was expected to live, but his recovery will be difficult, government officials and doctors said.

Fico “escaped death by just a hair,” Slovak President-elect Peter Pellegrini said outside the hospital Thursday.

The attempted assassination has shocked the European Union and cast a menacing shadow over bloc-wide elections taking place in early June to select a new European Parliament. Security was tightened around government figures and politicians in Slovakia, but also in other EU countries.

A toxic atmosphere hangs over the elections as far-right and anti-EU forces gain strength and appear poised to make big inroads. Increasingly, European politicians in the center and left describe the rise of the far right as a threat to democracy and to the future of the EU.

The shooter, identified by Slovak media as a little-known writer and poet called Juraj Čintula, fired five shots at Fico after calling out, ‘Robo, come here,” in Slovakian. Four of the shots struck Fico, hitting him in the stomach and hand.

Čintula was immediately detained by security agents, though Fico’s security staff also faced criticism for failing to prevent the attack and not getting between the shooter and Fico. Videos of the attack showed security agents reacting quickly.

Čintula was charged with attempted murder and faces a life sentence if convicted. A leaked police video showed him telling investigators he disliked Fico’s government.

Interior Minister Matúš Šutaj Eštok said the suspect opposed Fico’s politics, including his decision to stop military aid to Ukraine and overhaul Slovakia’s public television broadcaster. The minister said the man attended anti-government protests that had erupted in recent weeks.

“This is a lone wolf who had radicalized himself,” Šutaj Eštok told a news conference. He said investigators did not believe he was affiliated with extremist groups on the left or right.

Fico, a veteran of Slovak politics serving his fourth term as prime minister, has been described as a nationalist and a populist with a mixture of left-wing and right-wing policies. He came into politics on the left and he leads the Direction-Social Democracy party.

He was reelected prime minister last October after he was forced out of office in 2018 following widespread protests over the killing of Ján Kuciak, a Slovak journalist investigating government corruption, and his fiancée. Fico and his government were accused of systemic corruption and having ties to those accused in the killing.

His return to office was a major blow to Brussels because Fico opposed sending arms to Ukraine and sided with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in wanting to maintain good relations with Russia.

Like Orbán, Fico has been characterized as a danger to democracy, with critics accusing him of seeking to create an authoritarian regime.

Even before the assassination attempt, the atmosphere in Slovakia was deeply divided and the shooting threatened to worsen the situation.

Politicians on all sides urged calm, but tensions were high with online watchdogs reporting a dramatic spike in hateful comments on social media and at least one politician saying he’d been threatened. Authorities said they were investigating people who’d made online comments celebrating the attack on Fico.

“Let’s step out of the vicious circle of hatred and mutual accusations,” said President Zuzana Čaputová, a Fico opponent, in a news conference alongside Pellegrini. “What happened yesterday was an individual act but the tense atmosphere of hatred has been our collective work.”

She said she would invite all parliamentary party leaders for a joint meeting.

Pellegrini, a Fico ally who defeated a pro-Ukraine rival in presidential elections in April, called the shooting an “unprecedented threat to Slovak democracy.”

“If we express other political opinions in squares, and not in polling stations, we are jeopardizing everything that we have built together over 31 years of Slovak sovereignty,” Pellegrini said.

He asked all parties to suspend or reduce campaigning before the European Parliament elections. Opposition parties have suspended anti-government protests.

The shooting spawned a slew of theories, details, disinformation and apparent falsehoods about what may have driven Čintula to attack the prime minister, but a clear picture still had not emerged.

At a news conference Thursday, Slovak national police declined to offer further insights into the shooter.

Slovak media reported that Čintula had expressed racist views in the past in his writings. His son told Slovak media that he did not vote for Fico but that he had not talked about attacking the prime minister. He had worked as a security guard and he was in legal possession of the handgun he used in the attack.

Courthouse News reporter Cain Burdeau is based in the European Union.

Follow @cainburdeau