A “lone wolf” unaffiliated with political groups was charged in the shooting of Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico, said Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok on Thursday.
The left-wing populist leader was shot in an assassination attempt Wednesday afternoon following a Cabinet meeting in the central town of Handlova.
Fico is in serious condition but is expected to survive, a hospital official said on Thursday.
Police detained a suspect Wednesday, according to TA3, a local media TV station. The suspect was charged with attempted murder on Thursday.
The 59-year-old prime minister was transported by helicopter to Banská Bystrica, the regional capital, where he underwent several hours of surgery in an intensive care unit.
"I was very shocked. ... Fortunately, as far as I know, the operation went well, and I guess in the end, he will survive,” Tomas Taraba, Slovak deputy prime minister and environment minister, told the BBC's “Newshour.”
Fico was hit in the abdomen when five shots were fired outside Handlova’s House of Culture, where Fico was meeting with supporters, local media reports said.
Estok said Wednesday that the initial investigation found that the attack had "a clear political motivation."
Slovakia has experienced political unrest as thousands of Slovaks have repeatedly rallied in the country’s capital, Bratislava, to protest Fico’s policies. Fico returned to power for the fourth time last year after his party won the parliamentary election on a pro-Russian, anti-American platform.
Slovak President Zuzana Caputova, who is a political opponent of Fico, said Thursday that leaders of Slovakia’s political parties would meet to calm the nation.
"Let us step out of the vicious circle of hatred and mutual accusations," the outgoing president said at a news conference in Bratislava. "What happened yesterday was an individual act. But the tense atmosphere of hatred was our collective work."
In a telegram to Caputova, Russian President Vladimir Putin called the shooting “monstrous.”
U.S. President Joe Biden said in a statement Wednesday, "We condemn this horrific act of violence. Our embassy is in close touch with the government of Slovakia and ready to assist.”
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres strongly condemns the “shocking attack,” Farhan Haq, a spokesperson for the secretary-general, said at a briefing Wednesday.
Some material in this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
