Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico was rushed to a hospital on Wednesday afternoon after being shot in what the country’s Interior Ministry described as an assassination attempt.
Fico, 59, was attacked after convening a government meeting in the town of Handlova some 165 kilometres northeast of the capital Bratislava. The premier is being treated for a “life-threatening condition” at a hospital in nearby Banska Bystrica, the government said in a statement.
The alleged attacker was apprehended and taken into custody by police, according to media reports.
Fico was walking in a crowd of people when shots were fired at him, newspaper Dennik N reported. Eyewitnesses heard four shots ring out as the prime minister fell to the ground, after which he was lifted by security guards, loaded into a car and driven away, the newspaper said.
The dominant political figure in the eastern European nation of 5.4 million since the fall of communism, Fico returned to power last year as a force of opposition to European Union institutions in Brussels. His Russia-friendly stance has put him at odds with partners, threatening to undermine EU unity in helping Ukraine.
Outgoing President Zuzana Caputova, a political foe of Fico, condemned what she described as a “brutal and reckless attack” on the prime minister in a Facebook post.
“I am shocked. I wish Robert Fico every strength to recover from the attack at this critical time,” she wrote.
Slovakia’s parliament suspended its session as leaders across the political spectrum rebuked the assault, the first of its kind in the nation’s history.
A polarising figure, Fico made a political comeback after resigning in disgrace in 2018 in response to mass demonstrations over the shooting death of an investigative reporter who was probing corruption in Slovakia.
Last month, he lashed out at the country’s media for what he called hostility to the government as his cabinet proposed tighter controls over public television and radio.
Fico’s allies seized on the attack to accuse the opposition of inflaming division in the country.