BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico was shot a number of occasions after a political occasion Wednesday afternoon, an episode of violence that punctuated his decades-long profession in politics.
A hospital official the place Fico was being handled stated on Thursday that he was in severe however steady situation, and that he was being saved in an intensive care unit after a five-hour surgical procedure.
Fico, 59, was born in 1964 in what was then Czechoslovakia. A member of the Communist Occasion earlier than the dissolution of communism, he took a regulation diploma in 1986 and was first elected to Slovakia’s parliament in 1992 as a member of the Occasion of the Democratic Left.
He served for a number of years within the Nineteen Nineties as a governmental agent representing the Slovak Republic earlier than the European Courtroom of Human Rights and the European Fee of Human Rights. In 1999, he turned chairman of the Smer (Path) social gathering, of which he has been a pivotal determine ever since.
He and Smer have most frequently been described as left-populist, although he has additionally been in comparison with right-wing politicians just like the nationalist prime minister of neighboring Hungary, Viktor Orbán.
Fico returned to energy in Slovakia final yr, having beforehand served twice as prime minister, from 2006 to 2010 and once more from 2012 to 2018. His third time period made him the longest-serving head of presidency within the historical past of Slovakia, a European Union and NATO member.
After 5 years in opposition, Fico’s social gathering gained parliamentary elections final yr on a pro-Russian and anti-American platform. He vowed to carry an finish to Slovakia offering Ukraine with army assist because it battled Russia’s full-scale invasion, and has argued that NATO and america provoked Moscow into conflict.
After his election victory, the brand new authorities instantly halted arms deliveries to Ukraine. Hundreds repeatedly took to the streets throughout Slovakia to rally in opposition to Fico’s pro-Russian and different insurance policies, together with plans to amend the penal code to get rid of a particular anti-graft prosecutor and to take management of public media.
Fico’s return to energy precipitated concern amongst his critics that he and his social gathering — which had lengthy been tainted by scandal — would lead Slovakia away from its pro-Western course. He vowed to pursue a “sovereign” overseas coverage, promised a troublesome stance in opposition to migration and non-governmental organizations, and campaigned in opposition to LGBTQ+ rights.
He earned a repute for his tirades in opposition to journalists, and confronted felony fees in 2022 for allegedly making a felony group and misuse of energy, however the fees have been dropped by Slovakia’s prosecutor common.
In 2018, he and his authorities stepped down amid mass road protests after Slovakian investigative journalist Ján Kuciak was murdered alongside together with his fiancée. Kuciak had been reporting on tax-related crimes implicating high-level Slovak politicians together with some in Fico’s social gathering, and his homicide set off a political disaster.
Fico is married and has one little one.