Slovakia: Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico has been critically injured after being shot multiple times in a politically motivated assassination attempt, according to the interior minister.
The prime minister’s condition is life-threatening, Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok stated at a briefing outside the hospital in Banska Bystrica, the city’s center, earlier on Wednesday.
He said that the shooting was “politically motivated and the perpetrator’s decision was born closely after the presidential election,” alluding to the election that an ally of Fico won in April.
The shooting shocked the country of central Europe and sparked international outrage in the central town of Handlova, which is located 190 kilometers (118 miles) northeast of the capital, Bratislava.
Following Fico’s departure from a government meeting, there was gunfire. He was flown to the town’s hospital in a hurry and then transported by helicopter to Banska Bystrica for immediate medical attention.
The prime minister was the target of “a brutal and ruthless” attack, which President Zuzana Caputova denounced.
The incident was referred to as a “political assault” by the nation’s minister of defense.
The attack occurred three weeks before the European Parliament elections, which are very important and where right-wing and populist parties in the 27-nation bloc seem to be gaining ground.
European politicians voiced horror at the shooting, including British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
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