Slovakia PM Fico’s life in danger after assassination attempt
By TOI Desk Report May 16, 2024 Update on : May 16, 2024
Slovakia Prime Minister Robert Fico is fighting for his life after being shot multiple times on Wednesday in what the government called a “political assault”.
Surgeons spent hours on the operating table battling to save the 59-year-old populist leader after the attack that drew condemnation from world leaders, reports AFP.
Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok told reporters at a hospital in the central city of Banska Bystrica that his life was still in danger.
The PM is in critical condition and is still in the operating theater, he said.
Video footage of the incident after the shooting showed security agents picking up Fico from the ground and dragging him into a black car that sped away.
Police detained a suspect at the site of the attack, President Zuzana Caputova told reporters.
She expressed shock at the terrible and heinous attack.
Deputy Prime Minister Robert Kalinak refused to give information on the suspect but said it was “a political assault”.
The minister got emotional while talking to reporters and said he hoped that in the coming days authorities would find out what happened.
Fico has been shot multiple times, said his official Facebook page.
After a government meeting in Handlova today, there was an assassination attempt on Fico, the government said.