Slovakia Minister mentioned taht the prime minister is in vital situation and his life is at risk.
Banska Bystrica:
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico fought for his life on an working desk Wednesday after being shot a number of occasions in what the federal government known as a “political assault”.
Surgeons spent hours battling to avoid wasting the 59-year-old populist chief after the assault that has been condemned around the globe.
“The prime minister is in vital situation and his life is at risk and he’s nonetheless within the working theatre,” Inside Minister Matus Sutaj Estok advised reporters at a hospital within the central metropolis of Banska Bystrica.
Footage of occasions simply after the taking pictures confirmed safety brokers grabbing a wounded Fico from the bottom and hustling him right into a black automotive that speeds away. Different police handcuffed a person on the pavement close by.
Police had detained a suspect on the website of assault in Handlova, President Zuzana Caputova advised reporters. “I’m shocked, we’re all shocked by the horrible and heinous assault,” she added.
Deputy Prime Minister Robert Kalinak wouldn’t give info on the suspect however mentioned: “What has occurred is a political assault. It is completely clear, and now we have to react on that,” Kalinak mentioned.
The emotional minister advised reporters he hoped that in coming days authorities would “discover (out) what’s occurred. Now I am simply specializing in the standing of Robert, on his well being.”
Fico was shot a number of occasions, mentioned a put up on his official Fb web page.
“Immediately, after the federal government assembly in Handlova, there was an assassination try” on Fico, the federal government mentioned.
– Unprecedented assault –
Public RTVS tv confirmed a stretcher taken out of a helicopter by medics and wheeled into the hospital in Banska Bystrica surrounded by safety guards. A canopy was over the stretcher.
Fico, whose Smer-SD social gathering received the final election final September, is a four-time prime minister and a political veteran accused of swaying his nation’s overseas coverage in favour of the Kremlin.
Media reported that the suspected gunman was a 71-year-old author, however police haven’t named any suspects.
“I’ve completely no concept what father was pondering, what he was planning, why it occurred,” the alleged suspect’s son advised Slovak information website aktuality.sk.
Analyst Grigorij Meseznikov advised AFP “there was no (earlier) assault on any minister or prime minister in Slovakia.”
“I solely bear in mind the case of former minister of financial system Jan Ducky who was shot lifeless in 1999,” he added. “However he had not been politically lively anymore when he was killed.”
– Assault condemned –
Slovak president-elect and Fico ally Peter Pellegrini mentioned he discovered of the taking pictures “with horror”.
“An assassination try on one of many highest constitutional officers is an unprecedented menace to Slovak democracy,” he added on X, previously Twitter.
EU chief Ursula von der Leyen denounced the “vile assault” whereas NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg mentioned he was “shocked and appalled”.
US President Joe Biden mentioned he and the primary woman “are praying for a swift restoration, and our ideas are together with his household and the individuals of Slovakia.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the “appalling” taking pictures whereas Russian President Vladimir Putin known as the taking pictures a “heinous crime”.
“I do know Robert Fico to be a brave and strong-spirited man. I very a lot hope that these qualities will assist him to face up to this tough state of affairs,” Putin mentioned.
– Ukraine remarks –
In addition to his present stint as premier, Fico headed the federal government in 2006-10 and 2012-18. He’s married to lawyer Svetlana Ficova with whom he has a son, Michal, though Slovak media have reported the couple has separated.
Fico was compelled to resign in 2018 after an investigative journalist’s homicide uncovered high-level corruption and sparked anti-government sentiment.
However he got here again once more.
Since returning to workplace final October, Fico has made a string of remarks which have soured ties between Slovakia and neighbouring Ukraine.
He has questioned Ukraine’s sovereignty and known as for a compromise with Russia, which invaded in 2022.
After he was elected, Slovakia stopped sending weapons to Ukraine. He pledged in the course of the electoral marketing campaign to not present Kyiv with “a single bullet”.
He additionally sparked mass protests with controversial modifications, together with a media legislation that critics say will undermine the impartiality of public tv and radio.
At a press convention following the taking pictures, MP Lubos Blaha from Fico’s social gathering lashed out towards the prime minister’s critics.
“You, the liberal media, and progressive politicians are responsible. Robert Fico is combating for his life due to your hatred,” Blaha mentioned.
(Aside from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is printed from a syndicated feed.)
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