Slovak authorities charge shooter with assassination attempt on PM, Fico

Slovak officials charged a man on Thursday with attempting to assassinate Prime Minister Robert Fico, claiming he acted alone in a politically motivated attack that exposed the small central European country’s stark divisiveness.

Fico, 59, was in serious but stable condition the day after being shot many times in the stomach, according to a medical official.

President-elect Peter Pellegrini said he met with Fico at the hospital but confirmed that his health “remains very serious.”

The attempted assassination rocked the country and rippled throughout the continent weeks before European elections. While President Zuzana Caputova urged on everyone to use the opportunity to tone down the animosity that has defined the political debate, several government officials took aim at Slovakia’s

Fico has long been a divisive figure in Slovakia and beyond, and his return to power last year on a pro-Russian, anti-American message led to even greater worries among fellow European Union and NATO members that he would abandon his country’s pro-Western course – particularly on Ukraine.

Thousands of demonstrators have repeatedly rallied in the capital and around the country of 5.4 million to protest his policies.

Slovak police have provided little information on the identity of the suspect. But unconfirmed media reports suggested he was a 71-year-old retiree who was known as an amateur poet, and may have previously worked as a security guard at a mall in the country’s southwest.

At a news conference on Thursday following a meeting of Slovakia’s Security Council, government ministers gave more details about the man, while still not naming him.

Estok said that the man himself cited his dissatisfaction with several of Fico’s policies as motivation for the attack. The minister said presidential elections in the spring prompted the assault, and that the suspect had attended a recent anti-government protest.