Slovakian police have charged a man with the attempted murder of Prime Minister Robert Fico, who is critically ill in hospital after an assassination attempt that shocked the eastern European nation.
“Fico is in a stable but serious condition after being shot five times from a close range and undergoing surgery,” his deputy said Thursday.
The assassination attempt rocked the central European country and sparked global condemnation.
Slovakia’s Interior Minister Matúš Šutaj-Eštok said the suspect told law enforcement officers that his action was motivated by his disagreement with the government and its reforms.
The 59-year-old populist leader, who returned to power last year and whose controversial policy changes have sparked protests in recent weeks, was attacked on Wednesday after an off-site government meeting in the town of Handlova.
The prime minister had approached a small crowd of people waiting to meet him, when the suspected gunman in the crowd lunged forward and shot him five times from across a security barrier.
READ ALSO: Slovak PM survives assassination, battles for life in hospital
Footage from the scene showed the injured prime minister being bundled into a vehicle by his staff, before it speeds away with him inside. Nobody else was injured in the attack.
Fico was first rushed into a local hospital and then airlifted to a major trauma center in the nearby city of Banská Bystrica, where he spent more than five hours in surgery, according to hospital officials.
Hospital director Miriam Lapuníková said Fico was “stabilized but in a very serious condition” and that he would remain in the hospital’s intensive care unit.
She added that the hospital had two surgical teams operating on the prime minister.
On Thursday morning, the country’s Defense Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Robert Kaliňák said Fico’s condition “has been stabilized overnight, more steps are being taken to better his health. The situation is really serious.”
Kaliňák and the Interior Minister Matúš Šutaj Eštok delivered an emotional news conference outside the hospital on Wednesday night, saying the leader was “fighting for his life.”
Visibly shaken and sometimes struggling for words, the two ministers appeared in deep shock over the attack. Later in the news conference, both men struck a more combative tone, blaming the attack on the “hatred” being spread by “some people” and the media.
Politically motivated
Šutaj-Eštok said the suspect told law enforcement that his action was motivated by his disagreement with Fico’s government’s policies.
“The reasons were the decision to abolish the special prosecutor’s office, the decision to stop supplying military assistance to Ukraine, the reform of public service broadcaster and the dismissal of the judicial council head,” Šutaj-Eštok said.
He said the suspect is not a member of any extremist group, calling him “a lone wolf who decided to act after the presidential election” and that he had in the past attended anti-government protests.
Fico’s reforms have been extremely divisive and have led to months of largely peaceful protests.
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