Prime Minister Robert Fico of Slovakia was shot 5 instances on Wednesday, in essentially the most critical assault on a European chief in a long time. Officers mentioned the act was a politically motivated assassination try, stoking fears that Europe’s more and more polarized and vitriolic politics may tip into violence.
Mr. Fico, a veteran politician, underwent hours of emergency surgical procedure after being critically wounded in a city in central Slovakia. Hospital and authorities officers mentioned Thursday that Mr. Fico’s situation had stabilized in a single day however remained critical.
Here’s what we all know concerning the capturing.
How did it occur?
Movies from the scene point out that Mr. Fico was shot in Banikov Sq., within the middle of the city of Handlova, the place the prime minister had held a authorities assembly.
The attacker is seen within the movies standing with different individuals behind a steel barrier earlier than stepping ahead and capturing Mr. Fico from just some ft away as he got here to greet them.
Mr. Fico doubled over on the waist and fell backward onto a bench, and safety officers hustled him right into a black automotive. Mr. Fico was airlifted to a hospital in Banska Bystrica, a metropolis close to Handlova, in response to Slovak officers.
What’s Mr. Fico’s situation?
Mr. Fico’s situation stabilized in a single day, and medical doctors had been finishing up extra procedures in an effort to enhance his situation, Deputy Prime Minister Robert Kalinak mentioned Thursday morning outdoors the hospital the place the prime minister is being handled.
Miriam Lapunikova, the hospital’s director, mentioned Mr. Fico had undergone 5 hours of surgical procedure for a number of gunshot wounds. She mentioned that his situation remained “actually very critical” and that he remained in an intensive-care unit.
Who was the gunman?
Slovak information shops described the gunman, who was arrested, as a 71-year-old poet, however the authorities didn’t determine the suspect. Nevertheless, they mentioned that preliminary proof confirmed that the act was “clearly” politically motivated.
“For the primary time within the 31 years of our democratic sovereign republic, it occurred that somebody determined to specific a political opinion not in an election, however with a gun on the road,” Matus Sutaj Estok, Slovakia’s inside minister, wrote on Fb.
Slovakia’s president, Zuzana Caputova, referred to as the assassination try an “assault on democracy.”
Mr. Estok mentioned extra details about the shooter can be made public “within the coming days.”
What has the response been?
In Slovakia, the tried assassination heightened polarization and added vitriol to an already divided political panorama, with Mr. Fico’s allies accusing opponents of getting “blood on their palms.” Lubos Blaha, a consultant of Mr. Fico’s social gathering, Smer, mentioned opponents and what he referred to as “the liberal media” had “constructed a gallows” for the prime minister.
Overseas, the capturing drew condemnations from world leaders, together with Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin. Mr. Putin praised Mr. Fico, who has expressed pro-Russian views, and mentioned that “This monstrous crime can’t have any justification.”
Viktor Orban, the prime minister of Hungary and Mr. Fico’s ally, mentioned that he was “deeply shocked by the heinous assault in opposition to my buddy.”
Condemnations additionally got here from america and the European Union. President Biden referred to as the act a “horrific act of violence,” and Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Fee, referred to as the assault “vile” on social media.
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, who has confronted waning assist from Slovakia occasion although it delivered fighter jets to Ukraine when the struggle started, additionally condemned the assault.
Who’s Mr. Fico?
Mr. Fico, who has served as prime minister longer than every other Slovak chief, has offered himself as a fighter for the widespread man, and an enemy of liberal elites. Like Mr. Orban of Hungary, Mr. Fico has opposed immigration from outdoors Europe and help to Ukraine.
He started his three-decade political profession on the left, however over time has embraced right-wing political opinions, and so did his social gathering, Smer.
Mr. Fico beforehand served as prime minister from 2006 to 2010 and from 2012 to 2018. He was ousted amid avenue protests in 2018 over the killing of a journalist who was investigating authorities corruption, however was re-elected final yr after a marketing campaign wherein he took pro-Russian stances, promised social conservatism, nationalism and beneficiant welfare applications.
His critics have described a few of Mr. Fico’s plans as makes an attempt to return Slovakia to repressive Soviet instances, and have criticized efforts by his authorities to overtake state broadcasting to purge what they see as liberal bias and limit overseas funding of nongovernmental organizations that it sees as overseas brokers.
Reporting was contributed by Andrew Higgins, Lauren Leatherby, Cassandra Vinograd and Matthew Mpoke Bigg.
