Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer). (source: TASR)
Welcome to your weekly commentary and overview of news from Slovakia, this week in an adjusted format. Prime Minister Robert Fico was shot by an attacker; he remains in a serious condition. The people of Slovakia are shocked and wondering what happens next, but hate is on the rise.
If you have suggestions or questions for me, please send them to me at michaela.terenzani@spectator.sk.
An attack that will change Slovakia
Last week, a gunman tried to kill the prime minister of Slovakia.
The thoughts of most people are with Robert Fico. He is now in hospital, where he is being treated for serious injuries he sustained on Wednesday afternoon, when a 71-year-old attacker fired at him at close range using a pistol. Fico, who was greeting a group of supporters outside the building where a government out-of-town session had just ended, sustained four gunshot wounds.
An attempted assassination like this, in broad daylight in the middle of a very ordinary small town square, left the country in a state of shock. Such an act of violence was as abominable as it was unprecedented in Slovakia’s modern day history. The weight of the moment is on the shoulders of every single person living in the country, even those who may not realise they are carrying it.
Read in this newsletter:
What do we know about the health condition of Robert Fico?
What do we know about the attacker?
How did people react?
How did government politicians react?
What happens now?
What do we know about the health condition of Robert Fico?
After the attack, the prime minister was first rushed to the local hospital in the small town of Handlová, where the incident took place, and then airlifted to the F.D. Roosevelt Hospital in Banská Bystrica, one of the country’s top hospitals. After complex surgery that took about five hours, the public was informed that his condition had been stabilised, but remained serious. Fico was then kept in the hospital’s intensive care unit. He underwent another two hours of surgery on Friday.
The Sme daily obtained information on Wednesday that the prime minister had been hit twice in the torso, with two other bullets hitting his hand and a big toe. Questions about how long his recovery will take and whether he will be able to return to his prime-ministerial duties in the foreseeable future are deemed premature at this point. On Sunday, the hospital announced that Fico’s life was not at immediate risk.
