Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico attends a press conference during a Special European Council Meeting on April 18, 2024 in Brussels, Belgium.
Pier Marco Tacca | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Slovakia’s populist Prime Minister Robert Fico on Wednesday was injured in a shooting and taken to hospital.
A post on Fico’s official Facebook page said the prime minister was “shot multiple times and is in a life-threatening state” after an “attempted assassination.”
“In this moment he is being transported by helicopter to Banska Bystrica, because to Bratislava it would take too long considering the urgency of the matter. Coming hours will decide,” the post said, according to an NBC translation.
Fico, 59, was reported to have been shot and wounded in the abdomen after a government meeting, Primanews reported, citing Slovak news agency TASR.
Slovakian President Zuzana Čaputová “strongly” condemned the “brutal and ruthless attack” in a Google-translated Facebook post, without supplying further details of the nature of the attack.
A person is detained after a shooting incident of Slovak PM Robert Fico, after a Slovak government meeting in Handlova, Slovakia, May 15, 2024.
Radovan Stoklasa | Primanews
European leaders reacted with shock to the news and wished Fico well.
“I strongly condemn the vile attack on Prime Minister Robert Fico,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said via social media platform X.
“Such acts of violence have no place in our society and undermine democracy, our most precious common good. My thoughts are with PM Fico and his family,” she added.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said he was “deeply shocked by the heinous attack” against Slovakia’s Fico.
“We pray for his health and quick recovery! God bless him and his country!” Orban said via X.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said news of “the cowardly assassination attempt on Slovakian Prime Minister Fico has shocked me greatly.”
“Violence must have no place in European politics. At this time, my thoughts are with Robert Fico, his family and the citizens of Slovakia,” Scholz said via a Google-translated post on X.
Security officers move Slovak PM Robert Fico in a car after he was injured in a shooting incident, after a Slovak government meeting in Handlova, Slovakia, May 15, 2024.
Radovan Stoklasa | Primanews
Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala described the news of Fico’s shooting as “shocking” and said he wished Slovakia’s prime minister will “get well as soon as possible.”
“We must not tolerate violence, it must have no place in society,” Fiala said in a Google-translated post via social media platform X.
Slovakia’s foreign office was not immediately available to comment when contacted by CNBC.
