Attempted assassination of Robert Fico

Attempted assassination of Robert Fico
Fico in 2024
Location	Handlová, Slovakia
Coordinates	48.7271°N 18.7594°E / 48.7271; 18.7594
Date	15 May 2024 (2024-05-15) c.14:50 CEST (UTC+2)
Target	Robert Fico
Attack type	Shooting
Weapons	Pistol
Injured	1
Motive	Under investigation
Accused	Juraj Cintula
Charges	Attempted murder

On 15 May 2024, Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico was shot and critically injured in an assassination attempt in Handlová, Slovakia. The shooting occurred in front of the town's House of Culture after a government meeting, and Fico was taken to a hospital where he was stabilised after undergoing emergency surgery. A suspect was detained by police at the scene.

Background

Fico was in his fourth term as prime minister after being elected in the 2023 Slovak parliamentary election as head of the Smer party. He had run for office on a populist, Eurosceptic platform, halting military aid to Ukraine and pushing for friendly relations with Russia, while criticising NATO and the United States and campaigning against migration, non-governmental organisations, and LGBT rights. At the time of the shooting, Fico's government was introducing proposals to eliminate a special anti-graft prosecutor and to take greater control of the public broadcaster RTVS.

Amid the increasing polarisation of Slovak politics, media coverage, and society, Fico published a video message on 10 April 2024 in order to temper tensions. In the message, he stated, "The Progressive Slovakia voters are cursing government politicians in the streets and I am just waiting to see when this frustration, which is deepened by Denník N, SME and Aktuality, will turn into the murder of some of the leading government politicians." He also accused the aforementioned media outlets of "literally encouraging the progressive voter to be boorish and aggressive."

Shooting

The shooting occurred at approximately 14:50 CEST (UTC+02:00) on 15 May 2024 in Miners' Square (Slovak: Námestie Baníkov) in Handlová. Following a government meeting at the House of Culture, Robert Fico was greeting a crowd in the square and shaking hands with citizens. A man in the crowd shouted "Robo, pojď sem!" (English: Robo, come here!) and shot him at close range with a handgun. The alleged assailant was immediately detained by Fico's bodyguards and police cordoned off the area. Three other ministers were escorted away from the scene.

Fico was carried into a car by security personnel, and taken to Handlová Hospital before being airlifted to F.D. Roosevelt Hospital in Banská Bystrica. An interior ministry official said Fico was conscious while being transported. Five shots were fired from a handgun, with two shots striking Fico in his abdomen and one in his shoulder, leaving him in a life-threatening condition. He underwent an emergency operation that lasted five hours, and Deputy Prime Minister Tomáš Taraba stated that he is expected to recover. On 16 May, President-elect Peter Pellegrini said that he had been able to speak with Fico at the hospital and described his condition as "very serious".

Suspect

Juraj Cintula, a 71-year-old man from Levice, was immediately detained by Fico's security detail. According to the Minister of Interior Matúš Šutaj Eštok, Cintula stated during police interrogation that his decision to conduct the assassination was made after the presidential election in April. On 16 May, he was formally charged with attempted murder, which carries a life sentence. Cintula's pistol was owned legally in connection with his job as a private security guard at a shopping centre.

Cintula was a leader of the Rainbow Literary Club (Slovak: Literárny klub Duha) in Levice, which he co-founded in 2005, and is the author of three poetry books, a novel, and a book about Romani people in Slovakia titled Efata. In this book, Cintula praised the programme of the far-right People's Party Our Slovakia and professed understanding of mass-murderers in cases of perceived governmental failures, in particular regarding the 2010 Bratislava shooting.

In 2016, Cintula appeared in an event organised by a small pro-Russian paramilitary group called Slovenskí Branci (Slovakian Recruits). The group collaborated with the Russian motorcycle club Night Wolves; it later announced its disbandment in October 2022. According to Vsquare, the group received training from former Russian Spetsnaz members. At the time, Cintula wrote multiple posts praising Slovenski Branci and its anti-immigration stance.

Also in 2016, he co-founded the Movement Against Violence (Slovak: Hnutie proti nasiliu) a reference to the anti-communist Public Against Violence, which showed support for social liberal Progressive Slovakia (PS) candidate Zuzana Čaputová at the 2019 Slovak presidential election. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the movement condemned Russian aggression by stating "What Slavic brotherhood? There is only an aggressor and an attacked." Slovak newspaper Sme said it had identified Cintula based on pictures from protests against controversial reforms of Fico's government, which were organized by the pro-Western opposition three months before the shooting.

The motive behind the attack is still not fully known, but is being investigated as politically motivated. Interior Minister Eštok stated that preliminary investigations revealed the gunman was a "lone wolf" who had a political motivation for the assassination attempt. Cintula's neighbours described him as a "gentle old" person who was enjoying retirement with his wife and expressed disbelief over his actions. Cintula's son said his father did not vote for Fico. In a leaked interrogation video, Cintula stated that he "doesn't agree with ... governmental policy" and does not agree with "governmental elimination of mass media". In particular, he stated that he disagrees with the disbandment of Radio and Television of Slovakia. Authorities said that he had also attended anti-government protests.

Response

Domestic

Vice Chairman of the National Council Ľuboš Blaha confirmed the shooting during a legislative session, which was later suspended, and blamed political opposition and liberal media. The interior ministry described it as an "assassination attempt". Zuzana Čaputová, Slovakia's outgoing president, called the shooting "brutal and ruthless", and expressed shock for the attack and solidarity with Fico. President-elect Peter Pellegrini called the shooting "an unprecedented threat to Slovak democracy" and warned that political violence was "jeopardizing everything that we have built together over 31 years of Slovak sovereignty." On 16 May, Čaputová and Pellegrini appeared together and reiterated calls for calm, adding that the leaders of the country's major political parties would hold a meeting in an effort to "reduce violence". Pellegrini also urged campaigning for the 2024 European Parliament election to be held in a subdued manner. Similar sentiments were expressed by Michal Šimečka, leader of the opposition party PS. Andrej Danko, deputy speaker of the National Council and leader of the nationalist Slovak National Party, blamed the political opposition and media for the attack and said the country was heading for "political war". A meeting of the Security Council of the Slovak Republic was held on 16 May to deal with the situation. A scheduled protest by the PS and Freedom and Solidarity parties against the Fico government's plans to overhaul RTVS was cancelled on account of Fico's shooting.

International

Regional and global leaders and international organisations expressed their support for Fico and the people of Slovakia. Condemnation of the attack came from, among others, the European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and European Council president Charles Michel, French President Emmanuel Macron, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, US President Joe Biden, Polish President Andrzej Duda and Prime Minister Donald Tusk, as well as the Czech President Petr Pavel and Prime Minister Petr Fiala.

External links

• Footage of the assassination attempt made by TV station RTV Prievidza.