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The conditions of Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico, wounded by gunfire after a government meeting in Handlova and after having undergone surgery, have stabilized but are still serious: this was announced by Defense Minister Robert Kalinak, as reported by Tasr agency. «Last night the doctors at the “Roosvelt” hospital in Banska Bystrica managed to stabilize the patient’s condition. Today they will take further steps to recover him,” Kalinak said in statements relaunched by the Slovak television broadcaster Ta3. The director of the Slovakian hospital Miriam Lapunikova said that yesterday two surgical teams operated on Prime Minister Fico for five hours. He is now hospitalized in the Anesthesiology and Resuscitation department. This was reported by the Tasr agency. “The patient had multiple gunshot wounds,” the director said, asking the media to respect Fico’s privacy.
“Fortunately – Slovak Deputy Prime Minister Tomas Taraba told the BBC – as far as I know, the operation he underwent went well and I believe he will survive in the end.”
According to preliminary investigations by the Slovak police it was an attempted murder, given that the attacker was explicitly aiming at the prime minister and hit him with three-four shots. The “next hours will be decisive” we read in a note published on the prime minister’s Facebook profile, while officers arrested a 71-year-old man, Juraj Cintula, accused by the police of premeditated murder for revenge. Marzika TV reports it. The man is currently in a police cell at the National Criminal Agency in Nitra. According to Slovak media, the 71-year-old pensioner said he was proud of what he had done.
The political reactions
“I am completely shocked by today’s brutal and reckless attack on Prime Minister Robert Fico, which I condemn in the strongest possible manner,” Slovakia’s president, Zuzana Caputova, wrote on X. «I wish him a lot of strength in this critical moment and a speedy recovery. My thoughts also go to his family and loved ones,” she added. The “cowardly ambush” was also condemned by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, while the solidarity of the opposition forces in Bratislava arrives: “I am shocked and appalled by the attack on Prime Minister Robert Fico in Handlova” declared the leader of the opposition party Progressive Slovakia, Michal Šimečka. “We unequivocally and firmly condemn any type of violence.” Other good wishes include those from German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and NATO Secretary Jens Stoltenberg.
Who is the Slovak (and pro-Russian) prime minister
Fico, 59, previously held the position of prime minister between 2006 and 2010 and 2012 and 2018, also serving as rotating president of the EU in the second half of 2016.
