BANSKA BYSTRICA: Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico was in “very significant” but stable condition on Thursday, a hospital standard said, after he was shot five times in an assassination attempt that laid bare strong political units in the country.
Slovakia will convene a state security council meeting and the cabinet will also meet from 11: 00 a. m. ( 0900 GMT ) on Thursday, the government office said.
The prime minister had seen five hours of surgery with two teams to cure many gunshot wounds, according to Miriam Lapunikova, chairman of the F. D. Roosevelt University Hospital in Banska Bystrica where Fico is admitted.
” At this point his situation is stabilised but is really very severe, he will be in the intensive care unit”, she told reporters.
According to Deputy Prime Minister Robert Kalinak, doctors managed to stabilize Fico’s issue over and were working on improvements.
” However, the condition continues to be very significant because of the complicated nature of the wounds,” he said.” But we all want to know vehemently that we will triumph in managing the situation.”
The shooting, which was the first big assassination attempt to kill a political figure in Europe in more than 20 years, sparked widespread international outcry, with politicians and political analysts calling it an example of a continent-wide political climate that is becoming increasingly polarized and polarized.
The gunman shot Fico, 59, on Wednesday while he was on a trip to Handlova, a northern Czech town, with the initial verdict that the prime minister was in critical situation. He was then scheduled for surgery hours later.
The 71-year-old man shooter was reportedly a former safety watch at a mall, a poet in three writing choices, and a part of the Slovak Society of Writers. News channel Aktuality. Sk cited his brother who claimed that his father was authorized to possess a gun license.
In an undated videos posted on Instagram, the alleged attacker was seen saying:” I do not agree with government plan”.
” Sold mass media. Why is RTVS ( public broadcaster ) being attacked? Why are people… Mazak, why has he been kicked out of his post”, he continued, in reference to Jan Mazak who had been removed as president of a state criminal committee.
Reuters verified that the man in the picture had the same resemblance to the man detained following Fico’s shooting.
Socially motivated
The assault was “politically motivated,” according to Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok, who spoke at a press event on Wednesday.
Fico and his allies in the coalition government have criticized some media outlets and the opposition, alleging that they have heightened tensions in the state of northern Europe.
Slovakia’s biggest opposition party, the progressive, pro- eastern Democratic Slovakia, called off a organized protest and called for restraint to prevent escalating tensions.
In recent years, the nation’s population of 5.4 million has seen polarized political debate, including a contentious presidential election next quarter that helped strengthen Fico’s hold on the top after his alliance Peter Pellegrini won.
Since taking office as prime minister for the third time in October, Fico has rapidly changed legislation in what criticism supporters said was a power grab that threatens the rule of law.
His government has reduced support for Ukraine while reviving dialogue with Russia, sought to slacken penalties for corruption, established a specific prosecutor’s office to handle large fraud, and proposed to overhaul the RTVS community broadcaster despite calls to guard media freedom.
Fico has long been critical of Slovakia’s major advertising, refusing to speak to some sources. In recent months, users of his party have criticized the media and criticism practices.
In Germany, which has just seen a flurry of episodes on politicians, Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed surprise on Wednesday, saying that murder had no place in Western elections
