While briefing about the shooting, Interior Minister Matus Sutaj said that Slovakia is probing a broader conspiracy in the assassination attempt on PM Fico.
About the attempted assassination of Prime Minister Robert Fico on May 15, the Slovak police are looking into the possibility of a larger criminal conspiracy.
Initially reported by officials as a “lone-wolf” shooter, he was shot numerous times and fortunately survived his wounds. The shooter was apprehended right thereafter. But the official story seems to be changing quickly.
Fico was greeting supporters in the street outside a government office when the 71-year-old gunman opened fire, injuring him seriously.
Over the weekend, Deputy Prime Minister Robert Kalinak made the following announcement on Fico: “He has emerged from the immediate threat to his life, but his condition remains serious and he requires intensive care.”
“We can consider his condition stable with a positive prognosis,” the prime minister declared outside the hospital, where he is anticipated to stay for a considerable amount of time. “We all feel a bit more relaxed now.”
With regards to the gunman’s motivations, Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok stated in a recent briefing that “the suspect was angered by the government’s Ukraine policy” and that it’s possible he wasn’t acting alone. As stated by Bloomberg:
On Sunday, authorities said that cooperation with domestic and foreign intelligence services had led to a broadening of the probe, to include a version in which a group – which wasn’t identified – may have been linked to the crime.
According to additional information provided by Estok, “A potential broader assassination plot is supported by the fact that the assailant’s social media communications were erased by another person about two hours after the shooting.”
According to the Interior Minister, “we added a version that it wasn’t only a lone-wolf attacker, but that the crime may have been conducted by a certain group of people.”
International publications have emphasized that there hasn’t been a head-of-state murder attempt in Europe for almost 20 years.
Fico has long been a vocal opponent of the West becoming further involved in the conflict in Ukraine, a stance that has earned him many foes and detractors both inside and outside of Ukraine.
Here’s how CNN reported his rise to the position of prime minister and head of the small NATO member state in October of last year, for instance. “A party headed by a pro-Kremlin figure came out top after securing more votes than expected in an election in Slovakia, official results show, in what could pose a challenge to NATO and EU unity on Ukraine.”
Fico’s top staff have occasionally retaliated against Western media, advising reporters to ‘ reflect’ on the way they cover the policies and populist prime minister while he is in the hospital fighting for his life.
Recently, GreatGameIndia reported that national media have stated the Prime Minister of Slovakia, Robert Fico, was shot in public by a 71-year-old poet and member of the pro-Western Progressive Party, Juraj Cintula.
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One wonders who this group is…