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Slovakia prime minister taken to hospital as President Zuzana Caputova condemns ‘brutal and ruthless’ attack.
Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico is in a life-threatening condition, according to his official Facebook page, after being wounded in a suspected assassination attempt.
“He was shot multiple times and is currently in a life-threatening condition,” read a message posted on Wednesday on Fico’s social media account.
The prime minister was being transported by helicopter to Banska Bystrica, it said, as the Slovak capital Bratislava was too far considering the “necessity of an acute intervention.”
“The next few hours will decide,” it added.
Earlier, reports on local media said that Fico was shot four times in the stomach outside the House of Culture in the town of Handlova in the afternoon. Police sealed off the scene and a suspect has been detained, according to the Dennik N news outlet and TA3, a Slovakian TV station.
The shooting comes three weeks ahead of crucial European Parliament elections, in which populist and hard-right parties in the 27-nation bloc appear poised to make gains.
Deputy speaker of parliament Lubos Blaha confirmed the incident during a session of Parliament and adjourned it until further notice, the Slovak TASR news agency said.
President Zuzana Caputova condemned “a brutal and ruthless” attack on the prime minister.
“I’m shocked,” Caputova said. “I wish Robert Fico a lot of strength in this critical moment and a quick recovery from this attack.”
Western leaders, from Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz to British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak expressed shock at the shooting.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen condemned the assault too.
“Such acts of violence have no place in our society and undermine democracy, our most precious common good. My thoughts are with PM Fico, his family”, she said on X.
I strongly condemn the vile attack on Prime Minister Robert Fico.
Such acts of violence have no place in our society and undermine democracy, our most precious common good.
My thoughts are with PM Fico and his family.
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) May 15, 2024
Fico, a third-time premier, and his leftist Smer, or Direction, party, won Slovakia’s September 30 parliamentary elections, staging a political comeback after campaigning on a pro-Russian and anti-American message.
In his political career, Fico has skilfully weaved between pro-European mainstream and nationalistic anti-Brussels and anti-American positions, while showing a willingness to change course depending on public opinion or changed political realities.
He embraced more extreme positions over the past four years that include strident criticisms of Western allies, pledges to stop military support for Kyiv, opposition to sanctions on Russia and threats to veto any future NATO membership invite for Ukraine.
His coalition halted Slovak official shipments of weapons for Ukraine and he has spoken about what he called Western influence in the war which only led to Slavic nations killing each other.
Critics worried Slovakia under Fico would follow the direction of Hungary under populist Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Thousands have repeatedly rallied in the capital and across Slovakia to protest Fico’s policies.
“That is definitely not something that anybody in Slovakia expected,” said Alena Kudzko, vice president of Globsec, a security policy think tank.
Kudzko noted how the country has been polarised over the past year amid heightened political tension, especially in the run-up to the elections.
“But nobody … called for violence in the country,” she told Al Jazeera. “Quite the opposite, everybody right now is trying to unite and send a coherent message, that political violence is not something that we support,” she added.
