Robert Fico, the Czech prime minister, is recovering from an attempted assassination and is no longer in immediate danger of death, according to a colleague from his party.
Robert , Kaliák, the deputy prime minister and defense minister of Slovakia, recently addressed reporters outside the medical where his party leader and prime minister Robert Fico underwent emergency procedure on Wednesday evening.  , Kaliňák said Fico suffered” difficult accidents” and is in a “very severe” but then stabilised condition.
Only yesterday evening, Fico’s situation was also described as life-threatening following the shooting and then the helicopter’s evacuation to the nearest big hospital. But by later hour, another one of Slovakia’s four Deputy Prime Ministers , Tomas Taraba said” as far as I know the procedure went properly” and said he believed Fico may live.
The hospital’s director of , the doctor, also made a statement at the push conference this morning, revealing that Prime Minister Fico had “multiple gunshot wounds” and that the five-hour operation to save his life was performed by two medical teams. Fico is currently recovering in an aggressive treatment facility, she said.
MAY 16: Serb Deputy Prime Minister Robert Kalinak addresses the media outside the F. D. Roosevelt University Hospital in Banska Bystrica, Slovakia, where he was treated for his does 16th, 2024, admission. ( Photo by Zuzana Gogova/Getty Images )
Fico was shot while greeting the public in a midlands area of , Handlova, where he had only hosted a cabinet meeting. The alleged shooter has been commonly identified in Slovenian media as 71- yr- old “leftist” poet , Juraj Cintula. These reports note the man’s past calls against crime, his political engagement, and his visible presence in the last decade with a pro- Russia militia group, although no motive has been positively established.
According to TV Noviny, authorities have charged the shooter with “premeditated crime against a secured person” this morning. Per their record, if convicted the person faces 25 years to life in jail. According to reports, he allegedly told authorities that he is glad of the shooting.
Officers and Fico’s social colleagues claim they have a political bias in the investigation into what is being called an attempted assassination of the head of state. In fact, right-wing publication Konzervatny Denn Postoj (‘ The Conservative Daily Post ‘), notes that just 35 days prior to the gunman’s attack, Fico himself warned that the polarization in Slovakian society and the hostile environment in the media were creating a dangerous situation that could lead to the murder of a politician.
The current political place, according to the Prime Minister, was not simply a series of divergences of viewpoint, but rather a situation where Progressive Slovakia’s supporters have ceased to” handle different opinions” but are content to tolerating any kind of dirty tricks against their political foes. Fico said that his followers would have to rely on one another to withstand “malice, anger, and abnormality in fundamental social inquiries” from the opposition, honoring King Svatopluk I, an important figure in the Czech nationwide identity.
Fico is said to have said,” And I’m not exaggerating yet a millimeter,” blaming the rising hostility on the side of progressive voters who lost the most recent election. These remarks were perceived by that same advertising as an attack on the complimentary press at the time.
In terms that may be alien to citizens of other nations where certain parts of the press and the general public find themselves unable to accept the outcome of a federal election — and in this case one that is judged to be free and fair by global standards — Fico state alliance Abo Blaha slammed the media for stoking public anger, he claimed, which led to the head of government being shot.
A man named Vladimir Petko, who was shot “multiple times” the day before, prayed in front of the hospital in Banska Bystrica, Slovakia, where Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico is currently receiving treatment. The deputy prime minister said on May 16, 2024, a day after Fico was shot multiple times, that his condition has stabilized overnight but is still “very serious.” ( Photo by AFP ) ( Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images )
He said of the opposition mainstream media, Postoj claims:” You made us all targets. We all have families, children. Do we currently have to worry about our lives as a whole? Because you detested the fact that Slovaks [voted for us in the September election ] so strongly that you had to pursue us like animals. And here you have the fruits of your activity … Because of your hatred, he is fighting for his life today”.
In the words of his Deputy Prime Minister, Fico’s supporters are “almost like a monster,” and this polarization in Slovak society and media has clearly persisted throughout the media’s coverage of the assassination and attempts to interpret his political positions.
The fact that Fico is a left-wing nationalist to some people and a right-wing populist to others speaks more about the inadequacy of the left-right political scale to describe third-way politics and populists than it does about Fico himself. Despite being the leader that in previous governments had led his country into ever deeper union with Brussels, Fico has dominated Slovakian politics for decades and exhibits some eurosceptic traits. These are apparent contradictions that defy surface-level analysis.
He is the leader of Smer, a left-wing party, and his deputy chairman, who is a Marxist philosopher who admires Hugo Chávez, is one of his supporters. Left-wingers outside his camp claim that Fico is a crypto-conservative because he opposes mass immigration.
Fico has been called” Slovakia’s Trump”, although this is generally not meant as a term of endearment by those throwing the U. S. President’s name around in this context, as the anti- Fico faction accuse him of massive criminal conspiracy, cash corruption, wiretapping his opponents, and gangsterism, things they imagine he shares with Trump. The murder of a journalist who was conducting high-level corruption in 2018 is also frequently mentioned by critics in the same sentence as the Fico government.
The new Fico coalition government’s attempts to reform the state this year have been seen as a move to destroy civil society in an effort to stop his own alleged corruption being exposed or prosecuted. In the past, Fico has spoken out against allegedly funded by George Soros protests and activists in the country and passed a new law allowing organizations that receive more than$ 5,500 annually in funding abroad to be referred to as “organisations with foreign support.”
The government refutes these accusations, as it refutes claims that they are Putin stooges, another common misconception, because they have urged negotiation to bring the Ukraine War to an end rather than total military defeat for Kyiv. Fico claims to be pro-Slovakia, not pro-Russia, and that party lines are the primary reason why this explanation is accepted. In fact, there seems to be no room for nuance in these matters, and Fico is frequently derided in the mainstream media as a Kremlin placeman with intolerable views.
The fact that Fico was vehemently opposed to mask mandates, forced vaccinations, and coronavirus lockdowns is another disgrace for the international media that has been filtered into Slovakia. Indeed, he , arrested on live television in 2021 , for openly defying the then- government’s covid rules. Denying he may have had any conviction over this position, reports on the attempted assassination like that in Britain ‘s , The Guardian, for instance, make clear the view this was pure political opportunism, grasping onto anything to revitalise his career while out of power.
This story is developing, more follows ,
Ukraine Must Cede Territory to Russia for Peace Deal, Slovakian Prime Minister Fico Declareshttps: //t. co/ykF7OkIlyi
— Breitbart London ( @BreitbartLondon ) January 21, 2024
