BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Slovak Prime Minister Roberto Fico was shot multiple times after a political event Wednesday afternoon, in an incident of violence that interrupted his decades-long political career.
Deputy Prime Minister Thomas Taraba later told the BBC he believed Mr Fico would survive the attack, adding: “At this point, his injuries are not life-threatening.”
Fico, 59, was born in 1964 in what was then Czechoslovakia. A member of the Communist Party before the dissolution of communism, he earned a law degree in 1986 and was first elected to the Slovak parliament in 1992 as a member of the Democratic Left Party.
For several years in the 1990s, he served as a government representative representing the Slovak Republic before the European Court of Human Rights and the European Commission of Human Rights. He became the leader of the Smer (Direction) Party in 1999 and has been a central figure in the party ever since.
Although he and Smer are often described as left-wing populists, they have also been compared to right-wing politicians such as neighboring Hungary’s nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
Fico returned to power in Slovakia last year and previously served as prime minister twice, from 2006 to 2010 and from 2012 to 2018. His third term was the longest tenure as Prime Minister in the history of the European Union, the European Union and Slovakia. NATO member country.
Fico’s party won after five years in opposition. parliamentary elections Last year, it was on a pro-Russian and anti-American platform. He vowed to end Slovakia’s military aid to Ukraine as it fights a full-scale Russian invasion, and claimed that NATO and the United States were provoking Russia to war.
After his election victory, the new government immediately halted arms deliveries to Ukraine.repeated thousands of times went out on the street Holding rallies throughout Slovakia against Fico’s pro-Russian and other policies. There are plans to revise the criminal law. remove the special anti-corruption prosecutor; control public media.
Fico’s return to power raised concerns among critics that he and his party, long mired in scandal, would lead Slovakia away from a pro-Western path. He has vowed to pursue a “sovereign” foreign policy, promised a tough stance on immigrants and non-governmental organizations, and campaigned against LGBTQ+ rights.
He gained a reputation for verbal abuse against journalists and faced criminal charges in 2022 on charges of founding a criminal group and abuse of power. In 2018, he and his government resigned amid controversy following an investigation into Slovakia. Journalist Jan Kuciak was murdered. along with his fiance. Kuciak was reporting on tax-related crimes involving senior Slovak politicians.
Fico is married and has one child.
