The Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico fought between life and demise in Banska Bystrica hospital after being shot by a number of bullets in what the federal government known as a political assault. “During the evening the medical doctors managed to stabilize his situation. Unfortunately the situations are nonetheless very severe, as a result of the injuries are sophisticated,” he mentioned Robert to Kali, his deputy and Minister of Defense. “What occurred is a political assault. It is totally clear and we should react to this,” she added.
Video footage of the occasions instantly following the taking pictures, which occurred following the authorities assembly in Handlova, present safety officers grabbing the injured prime minister from the bottom and placing him right into a black automobile that speeds away. Other law enforcement officials arrested a suspect on the close by sidewalk.
An unprecedented assault
The media reported that the alleged assassin was a 71-year-old author, however police didn’t identify the suspects. “I’ve completely no concept what my father was considering, what he was planning, why it occurred,” the alleged suspect’s son informed Slovak information website aktuality.sk.
The analyst Grigoriy Meseznikov said that “there was no (earlier) assault on any minister or prime minister in Slovakia.” “I solely keep in mind the case of the previous Minister of Economy Jan Ducky, who was shot useless in 1999,” he added. “But he was now not politically lively when he was killed.”
The condemnation of political leaders
World leaders reacted with shock and condemnation to the incident. First of all, the elected president of Slovakia and ally of Fico, Peter Pellegrinimentioned he was horrified to listen to the information of the taking pictures: “An assault on one of many highest constitutional officers is an unprecedented menace to Slovakia’s democracy,” he added.
The president of the United States Joe Biden known as the taking pictures a “horrific act of violence,” including that he and first woman Jill Biden “are praying for a speedy restoration, and our ideas are together with his household and the individuals of Slovakia.” Solidarity and condemnation additionally come from the spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry Wang Wenbin and by the pinnacle of NATO Jens Stoltenberg. “The ideas of the United Nations are with the Prime Minister,” mentioned the spokesperson for the UN secretary common, Antonio Guterres.
The Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said that “all efforts ought to be made to make sure that violence doesn’t grow to be the norm in any nation, form or sphere,” whereas the Russian president Vladimir Putin known as the assault a “heinous crime”: “I do know Robert Fico as a brave and strong-spirited man. I sincerely hope that these qualities will assist him to withstand this tough scenario.”
The chief of the EU, Ursula von der Leyen, strongly condemned the “cowardly assault. Such acts of violence don’t have any place in our society and undermine democracy, our most valuable widespread good.” Even the person political leaders of the Union expressed their common condemnation of what occurred: Macron, Altar e Sanchez they supplied solidarity to his household and the Slovak individuals. The German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, deeply shocked by the information, additionally requires an finish to “violence in European politics”. The Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer reviews the solidarity of his nation which says no to violence: “The tried homicide of my Slovakian colleague Robert Fico shocks me deeply. Only a number of days in the past we spoke on the telephone and mentioned safety points intensely.”
“India additionally stands in solidarity with the individuals of the Slovak Republic,” the Indian Prime Minister mentioned Narendra Modiwhereas the Iranian Foreign Ministry condemns the incident and needs him “good well being and a speedy restoration”.
Fico and overseas coverage in favor of the Kremlin
Cool, whose social gathering Smer-SD gained the final elections final September, is a four-time prime minister and a veteran politician. After main the federal government in 2006-10 and 2012-18, he was pressured to resign following the homicide of an investigative journalist that uncovered high-level corruption and sparked anti-government sentiment.
Upon returning to workplace final October, Fico made a sequence of feedback which have irenewed ties between Slovakia and neighboring Ukrainequestioning its sovereignty and calling for a compromise with Russia.
Accused of getting influenced his nation’s overseas coverage in favor of the Kremlin, after its election, Slovakia stopped sending weapons to Ukraine. During the election marketing campaign he promised to not provide Kyiv with “a single bullet”.
He additionally unleashed mass protests following controversial adjustments, together with one media regulation which critics say will undermine the impartiality of public tv and radio.
At a press convention after the taking pictures, Rep Lubos Blahafrom Fico’s social gathering, sure lashed out on the prime minister’s critics. “The blame lies with you, the liberal media and progressive politicians. Robert Fico is combating for his life due to your hatred,” Blaha mentioned.
© Agence France-Presse