Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico is undergoing surgery and is in a “life-threatening” condition after being shot in the abdomen on Wednesday.
The shooting occurred after a government meeting, a Reuters witness said they heard several shots after the meeting in Handlova, located northeast of the country’s capital Bratislava.
A man has been detained by the police, but no further information on the potential suspect has been released.
Fico was in Handlova as part of a tour of the country since he regained power in 2023.
Reports claim that Fico was conscious when he was taken to hospital. He has since been transported to a higher level facility.
“Nothing can ever justify violence or such attacks,” wrote the European Council’s President, Charles Michel on X.
Peter Pellegrini, Slovakia’s President-elect and supporter of Robert Fico, has said on X that “an assassination attempt on the Prime Minister is a threat to everything that has adorned Slovak democracy so far.”
He described his horror at the “hatred towards where another political opinion can lead. We don’t have to agree on everything, but there are plenty of ways to express our disagreement democratically and legally.”
Robert Fico became Prime Minister (PM) in September 2023. This is not his first time in power as he previously led the country for more than a decade, despite criticism that claimed he made Slovakia into a “Mafia state.”
He was forced to resign in 2018, following the murder of journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancee, for which Fico was under investigation.