Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico forgave his would-be assassin in his first public statement, according to bne IntelliNews.
Fico also condemned the opposition, media, non-governmental organisations, and the EU. He signalled that the period of trying to reconcile the deeply divided country after the shooting was over.
It is time to make the first move and that is forgiveness.
The Prime Minister published a video on his Facebook social media page. He stated that “I feel no hatred towards the stranger who shot me” and that “I will not take any legal action against him.” Fico also called the 71-year-old shooter, detained at the scene of the May 15 shooting in the town of Handlova, an “opposition activist.”
It is evident that he was only a messenger of evil and political hatred which the politically unsuccessful and frustrated opposition developed in Slovakia to unmanageable proportions.
He also stated that he suspected the attack was imminent. There would be “more victims,” he warned.
I had no intelligence reports, but my experience after 32 years in politics warned me.
Slovak Republic is increasingly delving into conspiracy theories amid growing disinformation around COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine. Fico stated that the EU and NATO believed that the war in Ukraine “must continue at any cost in order to weaken the Russian Federation.”
Anyone who does not identify with this single mandatory opinion is immediately labelled as a Russian agent, and politically marginalised internationally.
Political situation
Robert Fico suggested that he could return to duty in late June or early July if his recovery went according to plan.
Meanwhile, his video message provoked a disappointing reaction from opposition politicians. Michal Simecka, chairman of the opposition leading Progressive Slovakia, pointed to Fico’s “repetitions of conspiracies about a world campaign of Soros against Slovakia.”
We were all rooting for him to recover soon, we all sharply condemned the attacker’s deed, we all hoped to start walking towards common reconciliation. But from the first address it seems that Fico rejected this.
According to the latest Ipsos poll, the prime minister’s Smer party will gain 24.6 per cent, ahead of Progressive Slovakia (PS) with 21.9 per cent. Hlas would be in third place with 11.2 per cent, followed by national-oriented Republika with 8.7 per cent.
