On Friday Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico made his first public appearance since he survived an assassination attempt in May.
Prime Minister Fico participated in an evening ceremony marking Saints Cyril and Methodius Day, a public holiday in Slovakia. He spoke standing at a podium at a castle ruins dating back over 11 centuries, according to the media reports.
‘We must all together build a huge dam against the nonsensical, liberal ideologies that are spreading like a cancer. They are ideologies that are damaging this country’, Fico said.
He added, ‘They are ideologies that were created only the day before yesterday. I do not want Slovakia to be among the countries that make a caricature of Western civilization’.
Prime Minister Fico, 59, was shot four times at close range on May 15 as he greeted supporters after a government meeting in the central town of Handlova. He was hit in the abdomen and was taken to a hospital in Banska Bystrica in serious condition.
He has been recovering at home since the end of May. The attacker was identified as 71-year-old Juraj C, who was arrested and charged with attempted premeditated murder. Prosecutors this week upgraded the case to a terrorist attack. The attacker said he had wanted to hurt the prime minister, but not kill him, because he disagreed with the government’s policies.
The assassination attempt deepened the polarisation in Slovakia, a country of 5.4 million. Since coming to power in 2023, Fico’s leftist-nationalist government has quickly shifted policy, including changing some criminal laws and cancelling a special prosecutor’s office, transforming the public broadcaster, and halting state military aid to Ukraine.
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