Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico is in critical condition after he was shot five times following a government meeting.
“He is fighting for his life,” Defense Minister Robert Kaliňák told press outside the hospital where Fico is being operated on. “We are hoping that he is strong enough to make it.”
“He suffered a polytrauma,” Kaliňák said, adding that Fico has been in surgery for three and half hours. “It’s a really complicated health condition.” More detailed health information will be available later, Kaliňák said, adding that for now there is “no good news.”
‘Politically motivated’
The shooting shocked politicians in Europe, where such incidents are rare. World leaders including U.S. President Joe Biden and European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen condemned the attack and sent their thoughts to Fico and his family.
“I can confirm that there has been an assassination attempt,” Interior Minister Matúš Šutaj Eštok said. “The gunman shot five times … the first information we have is that this was a politically motivated act.”
Eštok said the gunman decided to attack Fico following the recent presidential elections, which were won by Fico’s colleague Peter Pellegrini.
In the coming days, security will be strengthened for other ministers, he added.
“I want to appeal to the public, to journalists and to all politicians to stop spreading hatred, Eštok said, making a general plea to “stop attacks and hatred on social networks and media,” whether about the opposition or ruling coalition.”
“The inability to accept the will of some part of the public that some group of people does not like is the result we have reached today,” he said. “What has been unleashed in recent weeks and months is incomprehensible and it is our job to stop it.”
“We are on the verge of civil war. The assassination attempt on the prime minister is evidence of this,” Eštok said.
Tom Nicholson contributed reporting.
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