New Delhi:

The man detained over the shooting of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico will face prosecution on the charge of carrying out a terrorist attack, Slovakia’s general prosecutor said on Thursday.

Fico is recovering after being shot four times at close range when he greeted supporters at a government meeting in the central Slovak town of Handlova in mid-May. That left him needing hours of surgery.

A man identified by prosecutors as 71-year old Juraj C. was detained on the spot after the attack and charged with attempted premeditated murder.

“On the basis of the gathered evidence, the prosecuted act will be further legally qualified as the particularly serious crime of terrorist attack,” General Prosecutor Maros Zilinka said on Facebook on Thursday, without providing further details.

The accused, if found guilty, could face life in prison under the new classification, according to Slovakia’s criminal laws. Previously he had faced 25 years or life in prison.

The attack has highlighted the deep polarisation of politics in the central European country.

The detained man has, according to court documents, said he wanted to hurt the prime minister, but not kill him, because he disagreed with government policies including cancelling a special prosecutor’s office and stopping state military aid to Ukraine.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

The man detained over the shooting of Robert Fico said he had wanted to hurt the Slovak Prime Minister because he disagreed with government policies and used a gun he had owned for more than 30 years, a court document released on Thursday showed.

The 9-page document details the reasoning why a court ordered the 71-year-old suspect to be detained, based on questioning he had with authorities investigating the case.

They are the first official comments from the suspect that have been made public, more than a week after the shooting that left Fico fighting for his life and needing surgery on his abdomen. His condition has improved but he remains hospitalised.

The suspect, a former security guard at a shopping mall, according to the media, was cited as saying no one else knew about his plan. He apologised for his actions and was prepared to apologise to Fico, according to the document released by the Specialised Criminal Court.

Fico was shot four times at close range on May 15 on a square in the central town of Handlova where the government had been meeting.

The court order said the suspect stated he had “decided to act” as he disagreed with government policy, “the cancelling of the USP (special prosecutor office), and he disagrees with the persecution of cultural and media workers, and what he mainly wants is military aid to be provided to Ukraine”.

A lawyer for the suspect, when contacted by Reuters, said she had ended her representation. It was not clear if the suspect had a new lawyer.

OPPOSITION PROTESTS

The first major assassination attempt on a European political leader for more than 20 years highlighted deep political divisions in the central European country.

Fico’s leftist-nationalist government coalition has faced opposition protests and European Commission criticism for some policy pivots, which critics say damage the rule of law and media freedom.

His government ended state military to Ukraine, held dialogue with Russia, dismantled a special prosecutor’s office fighting corruption, and is overhauling the country’s public TV and radio broadcaster.

The court document said the suspect, identified previously by prosecutors as Juraj. C, decided around Monday, May 13, two days before the shooting, to hurt Fico using a legally held CZ 75 9mm-calibre gun he had had in his possession for over three decades.

Arriving in front of the building at 2:35 p.m. with the gun and two magazines of around 10 bullets each, the suspect stood with others at a barrier outside on the square, it said.

When Fico came close, “he aimed at (Fico), specifically at the lower part of his torso”, said the court order, which blocked out names of the attacker, victim and witnesses.

The order said the suspect said he did not intend to kill him but “wanted to injure him and damage his health”.

He said he had never been treated in a psychiatric ward nor had any psychiatric examination, the document showed.

Acquaintances have described him as member of a literary club and author of several books. He had in the past attended at least one rally of a paramilitary group but also tried to set up a political movement against violence, according to videos verified by Reuters.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Bratislava:

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico’s life is no longer in danger following an assassination attempt, Deputy Prime Minister Robert Kalinak said on Sunday.

Robert Fico has been in hospital since Wednesday when a lone gunman shot him four times, including in the abdomen.

“He has emerged from the immediate threat to his life, but his condition remains serious and he requires intensive care,” Kalinak, Fico’s closest political ally, told reporters.

The Slovak premier underwent a five-hour surgery on Wednesday and another surgery on Friday, both at a hospital in the central city of Banska Bystrica.

“We can consider his condition stable with a positive prognosis,” Kalinak said outside the hospital, adding, “We all feel a bit more relaxed now.”

Kalinak added that Fico would stay at Banska Bystrica for the moment.

The suspected gunman, identified by Slovak media as 71-year-old poet Juraj Cintula, has been charged with attempted premeditated murder and was put in pre-trial detention by a special penal court on Saturday.

Fico was shot as he was walking to greet supporters after a government meeting in the central mining town of Handlova.

Kalinak said earlier that Fico had suffered four gunshot wounds, two light, one medium and one serious.

Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok said that if one of the shots “went just a few centimetres higher, it would have hit the prime minister’s liver”.

The 59-year-old Fico took office in October after his centrist populist Smer party won a general election.

He is serving his fourth term as prime minister after campaigning on proposals for peace between Russia and Slovakia’s neighbour Ukraine, and to halt military aid to Kyiv, which his government has done.

Kalinak said the government would carry on without Fico “according to the programme he has outlined”, including two meetings next week.

The assassination attempt has deeply shocked the EU and NATO member country of 5.4 million people, already sharply divided over politics for years.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Banska Bystrica:

Authorities charged an alleged gunman Thursday with the attempted murder of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, saying the shooting was sparked by the election win last month of a Fico ally.

The premier’s condition has stabilised but was still “very serious” a day after the violence that prompted deep worries of an escalation in the politically polarised nation.

“This is a lone wolf whose actions were accelerated after the presidential elections since he was dissatisfied with its outcome,” interior minister Matus Sutaj Estok said.

Slovak president-elect Peter Pellegrini, the Fico ally who won April’s vote, earlier Thursday called for calm, urging political parties to halt campaigning for June’s EU parliament election.

The leader of the biggest opposition party, centrist Progressive Slovakia, announced his grouping had already done so.

Slovakia’s politics have been divided for years between pro-Europeans and nationalist-leaning camps, with the latest elections heavily influenced by disinformation and verbal attacks on social media.

Pellegrini, Fico’s ally who will assume office in June, said Slovakia should avoid “further confrontation” in a joint statement with outgoing President Zuzana Caputova.

The two politicians represent rival political camps but Caputova said they wanted “to send a signal of understanding” as she urged an end to “the vicious circle of hatred”.

Surgeons spent hours in the operating theatre, battling to save the 59-year-old leader after the shooting, which happened on Wednesday afternoon as Fico spoke to members of the public after a meeting.

Deputy prime minister Robert Kalinak said doctors stabilised Fico’s condition, “but unfortunately, his condition is still very serious as the injuries are complicated”.

Footage of events just after the shooting showed security agents grabbing a wounded Fico from the ground and hustling him into a black car. Other police handcuffed a man on the pavement nearby.

Fico, whose party won the general election last September, is a four-time prime minister and political veteran accused of swaying his country’s foreign policy in favour of the Kremlin.

Outside the hospital, shock mixed with outrage as residents of Banska Bystrica condemned the assault.

“I’m certainly afraid that such attacks will be repeated,” Nina Stevulova, a 18-year-old student, said.

“There’s no need to do such things. Feel free to throw a tomato or an egg at him or scold him that ‘You are a thief or a murderer’,” Karol Reichl, a former professional driver, told AFP.

“But don’t come with a gun and shoot,” the 69-year-old said.

Unprecedented attack

Media reported that the suspected gunman was a 71-year-old writer.

The alleged suspect’s son told Slovak news site aktuality.sk he had “absolutely no idea what father was thinking, what he was planning, why it happened”.

Political analyst Miroslav Radek said the attack risked causing “further radicalisation of individuals and politicians in Slovakia”.

“I am afraid that this attack may not have been the last,” Radek told AFP.

The shooting came just weeks ahead of June’s European parliament elections in which far-right parties are expected to make gains.

In the central Slovak city of Levice, where the alleged gunman came from, engineer Jaroslav Pirozak told AFP he was sad for Fico.

“But at the same time, he’s the one spreading hate and dividing the society, he’s the one sowing hatred,” the 34-year-old said.

Ukraine weapons

As well as his current stint as premier, Fico headed the government in 2006-10 and 2012-18.

He was forced to resign in 2018 after an investigative journalist’s murder exposed high-level corruption and sparked anti-government sentiment.

But he came back again.

Since returning to office last October, Fico has made a string of remarks that have soured ties between Slovakia and neighbouring Ukraine after he questioned Ukraine’s sovereignty.

After he was elected, Slovakia stopped sending weapons to Ukraine, invaded by Russia in 2022.

He also sparked mass protests with controversial changes, including a media law that critics say will undermine the impartiality of public broadcasters.

At a press conference following the shooting, MP Lubos Blaha from Fico’s party lashed out against the prime minister’s critics.

“You, the liberal media, and progressive politicians are to blame. Robert Fico is fighting for his life because of your hatred,” Blaha said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Handlova:

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico suffered life-threatening injuries when he was shot multiple times on Wednesday. Here is what we know about the incident:

What happened?

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, a 59-year-old four-time premier who came back to power after his Smer-SD party won a general election last year, chaired a government meeting in the central town of Handlova. Shots were fired after the meeting.

“There was an assassination attempt on Robert Fico. He was shot multiple times and is currently in a life-threatening condition,” said a statement on Fico’s official Facebook page.

Daniel Vrazda, a journalist with Dennik N newspaper who was covering the event, said he heard four shots and saw Fico on the ground and then being carried away.

Video footage obtained by AFPTV showed two guards carrying Fico by his arms while other guards opened the doors to a black Mercedes limousine that sped away. 

Security personnel apprehended a man in jeans who was lying on the ground in handcuffs, the video showed.

Fico was later transported by a helicopter to hospital in Banska Bystrica.  Slovak public television RTVS showed images of a stretcher surrounded by security guards being wheeled into a hospital.

What was the official response?

Slovak President Zuzana Caputova expressed shock at the attack on her political opponent and spoke out against what she called a “brutal and reckless attack.”

Fico’s close ally, Peter Pellegrini, who is to succeed Caputova in June, has also condemned the “assassination attempt”.

“I am horrified by where the hatred towards another political opinion can lead,” Pellegrini said on X (formerly Twitter).

The parliament session in Bratislava was suspended following the attack and security measures have been bolstered.

The Slovak opposition called off a rally planned for Wednesday against government plans to reform the public broadcaster, which have been slammed by the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) media watchdog.

Reactions from leaders

World leaders quickly condemned the attack.

“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,” said EU chief Ursula von der Leyen.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said: “Every effort should be made to ensure that violence does not become the norm in any country, form, or sphere,” said Zelensky. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin called the shooting a “heinous crime”.

“I know Robert Fico to be a courageous and strong-spirited man. I very much hope that these qualities will help him to withstand this difficult situation,” Putin said in a statement.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)