Slovak PM shooting: Suspect a ‘lone wolf’, was upset as Fico’s ally won presidential election

A “lone wolf”, upset after a Slovak PM’s ally won last month’s presidential election, has been charged in the shooting that seriously wounded Prime Minister Robert Fico, says the Slovak interior minister on Thursday.

Addressing the media, Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok said “This is a lone wolf whose actions were accelerated after the presidential election since he was dissatisfied with its outcome,”.

The suspect has been charged with premeditated murder, he said, adding that the suspect was not affiliated with any “radicalized political group.”

Estok said “Slovak police are working with a single version of the attack and the suspect is charged with attempted murder with premeditation,” Sutaj Estok told reporters, adding that the attack was “politically motivated”.

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Fico was in serious but stable condition on Thursday after being hit multiple times in an assassination attempt that has shaken the small country and had repercussions across the continent just weeks before the European elections. The hospital official reported his condition amid growing concerns.

Fico, a divisive figure in Slovakia and beyond, returned to power last year with a pro-Russian, anti-American platform, heightening worries among fellow European Union members that he might steer his country away from the Western mainstream.

In his fourth term as prime minister, his government halted arms deliveries to Ukraine, prompting fears that Slovakia—a NATO member with a population of 5.4 million—might follow Hungary under populist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and abandon its pro-Western stance.

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With agency inputs.