According to Slovak media, the shooter is a 71-year-old man who wrote poems and previously worked as a security guard.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico is currently hospitalized following a shooting that occurred after his government meeting in the town of Handlova.
Slovak media named the shooter as Juraj Cintulaoriginally from the small town of Levice, in the west of the country.
According to the Slovak daily Dennik N, the alleged perpetrator is 71 years oldhe is a writer and founding member of the literary club DÚHA.
He wrote three collections of poetry and published two novels entitled “The message of sacrifice in 2010 and “Efata” in 2015, according to the literary club’s Facebook page. The latter is a novel about the Roma community in Slovakia.
The Slovak Writers’ Association (SSS) has registered Cintula as a member since 2015, but has since tried to distance itself from its association by issuing a statement: “We express our indignation at such a brutal act, which has no equivalent in the history of Slovakia“.
Mr. Cintula would hold a gun license and was previously reported to have worked as a security guard for a private security company, where he himself was the target of an attack at a shopping mall.
The Markíza television channel broadcast a brief video of the suspect shortly after his arrest. In this video he says: “I do not agree with the government’s policy. Why are the media being targeted? Why is RTVS being attacked? Why was Mazák removed from office?“
This assassination attempt is the first targeting a politician prominent in the history of modern Slovakia, which gained independence in 1993.
The Prosecutor General of Slovakia, Maroš Žilinka, promised that the perpetrator of the attack would be punished in a manner “uncompromising” by the police.
Robert Fico’s allies rejected responsibility for the attack on the “liberal media“, accusing the journalists to create an environment conducive to hatred towards Robert Fico and his populist policies.
Lubos Blaha, vice-president of the Slovak Parliament and vice-president of the Smer party of Mr. Fico, declared: “On behalf of Smer, I would like to strongly condemn what happened today in Handlova and, at the same time, express my deep disgust for the actions you have committed here over the past years“.
“You, the liberal media and the political opposition. What hatred you have spread against Robert Fico“.
Slovakia’s largest opposition party, Progressive Slovakia, canceled a planned demonstration against a controversial public service reform Slovak broadcasting networks envisaged by Mr. Fico’s government. Party leader Michal Simecka said the move was aimed at avoiding a “escalation of tension“.