Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico is fighting for his life in hospital after being shot in Handlova, a small town northeast of Bratislava, on 15 May 2024.
On Wednesday evening, 15 May 2024, Defense Minister Robert Kalinak stated that Mr. Fico had been in surgery for over three hours, describing the situation as “bad.”
Slovak politicians, including the president, have denounced the shooting as an “attack on democracy.” The alleged assailant was apprehended at the scene but has not yet been formally identified by authorities.
The attack took place around 14:30 (12:30 GMT) as Mr. Fico greeted people in front of a cultural community center following a government meeting. Footage captured the moment a man raised a gun and fired five times at the prime minister before being subdued by bodyguards. Mr. Fico was immediately taken into his car by other security personnel.
He was airlifted to a nearby hospital and then flown to another hospital in Banska Bystrica, located east of Handlova. Later that evening, Slovakia’s Deputy Prime Minister Tomas Taraba told the BBC’s Newshour program that he believed Mr. Fico’s procedure had gone well, stating, “I guess in the end he will survive,” and noting that Mr. Fico was “not in a life-threatening situation at this moment.”
At a press conference, Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok confirmed that Mr. Fico had been shot in the stomach and indicated that initial information pointed to political motivation behind the attack. Unconfirmed local media reports suggested the suspect was a 71-year-old writer and political activist. A widely circulated video on Slovak media purportedly features the suspect, expressing disagreement with government policies and the stance towards state media. However, the BBC has not verified if the individual in the video is the same person detained at the scene.
Slovakia’s outgoing president, Zuzana Caputova, remarked that the gravity of the event was difficult to comprehend. She attributed the shooting to the hateful rhetoric prevalent in society, which she believes leads to violent acts. Both Mr. Kalinak and Mr. Estok criticized the spread of hate speech on social media and urged citizens to avoid responding to hate with more hate. Mr. Estok also blamed the media for contributing to the divisive climate that led to the attack, stating that protection would be extended to constitutional officials, journalists, and other public figures at risk of similar attacks.
Mr. Fico, 59, had recently returned to power in Slovakia after the September 2023 elections, leading a populist-nationalist coalition. His tenure has been marked by political controversies, including halting military aid to Ukraine in January 2024 and pushing for the abolition of the public broadcaster RTVS in April 2024. These actions sparked widespread protests, though a planned opposition-led demonstration was canceled following news of the shooting.
During the attack, parliament was in session, and Slovak media reported that a party colleague of Mr. Fico’s accused opposition MPs of inciting the violence. President-elect Peter Pellegrini, a political ally of Mr. Fico, expressed his horror at the attack and attributed it to recent political divisions, describing it as an “unprecedented threat to Slovak democracy.” He emphasized the importance of democratic and legal ways to express disagreements.
World leaders have condemned the attack on Mr. Fico. US President Joe Biden described the incident as a “horrific act of violence” and assured that the US embassy was in close contact with the Slovakian government, ready to assist. Russian President Vladimir Putin denounced the “monstrous crime,” and European Council President Charles Michel affirmed that “nothing can ever justify violence or such attacks.”
