{"id":66623,"date":"2024-06-06T00:40:14","date_gmt":"2024-06-06T00:40:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/06\/06\/slovak-prime-minister-speaks-publicly-for-first-time-since-assassination-attempt\/"},"modified":"2024-06-06T00:40:14","modified_gmt":"2024-06-06T00:40:14","slug":"slovak-prime-minister-speaks-publicly-for-first-time-since-assassination-attempt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/06\/06\/slovak-prime-minister-speaks-publicly-for-first-time-since-assassination-attempt\/","title":{"rendered":"Slovak Prime Minister Speaks Publicly for First Time Since Assassination Attempt"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"550\" src=\"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/06\/05\/multimedia\/05xp-slovakia-vfzb\/05xp-slovakia-vfzb-facebookJumbo.jpg?fit=1050,550&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Slovak Prime Minister Speaks Publicly for First Time Since Assassination Attempt\" title=\"Slovak Prime Minister Speaks Publicly for First Time Since Assassination Attempt\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Prime Minister Robert Fico of Slovakia spoke publicly for the first time since being shot three weeks ago, blaming the opposition in a video released on Wednesday for what he described as a politically motivated assassination attempt.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In the <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/robertficosk\/videos\/1620239408774269\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">recorded video address<\/a>, which was posted to the official Facebook pages for Mr. Fico and his political party, Smer, the prime minister detailed his recovery and said it would be \u201ca minor miracle\u201d if he could return to work in a few weeks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Fico was shot multiple times at close range on May 15 in Handlova, in central Slovakia, and required several rounds of surgery before he was released from a hospital on May 30. He has been recovering at his home in Bratislava, the capital.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He said in his address that the attack seriously harmed him, adding that he was receiving outpatient care. He said he hoped to return to work gradually by the end of June or early July \u201cif everything goes as planned,\u201d according to an English translation provided by Mr. Fico and Smer.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Fico said that \u201can activist of the Slovak opposition\u201d had attempted to assassinate him because of his political views, describing the gunman as \u201ca messenger of evil and political hatred.\u201d Opposition parties have denied any notion of a connection to the shooting.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI have no reason to believe this was an attack by a lone madman,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Fico, a combative populist who became prime minister in October after a narrow victory in a parliamentary election, spoke just before a moratorium on speeches and campaigning takes effect in Slovakia ahead of elections for the European Parliament on Saturday. He suggested in his remarks that his political opinions, including his opposition to military aid to Ukraine, had made him a target. His opponents have accused his government of eroding democracy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIt is a cruel observation, but the right to a different opinion has ceased to exist in the E.U.,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A suspect was taken into custody and <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/live\/2024\/05\/16\/world\/slovakia-prime-minister-fico-shot\" title=\"\">charged<\/a> with attempted premeditated murder after the attack, the Slovak authorities announced in May. <\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Fico said that he would not take legal action against the suspect or seek damages.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIt\u2019s time for me to make the first move, and that is forgiveness,\u201d Mr. Fico said. \u201cI feel no hatred toward the stranger who shot me.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In his remarks, Mr. Fico spoke out against his political opponents, and said that he had been concerned for months that a political assassination attempt was possible.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI should be full of anger, hatred and revenge,\u201d he said. \u201cOpposition to a politician you disagree with is not resolved by shooting him. On the contrary, I would like to express my belief that all the pain I have gone through and am still going through will serve something good.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Fico\u2019s Smer party has invoked the attack in its E.U. election campaigning.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Michal Simecka, the leader of the main opposition party, Progressive Slovakia, has denied any connection between his party and the assailant. In a <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/miso.simecka\/posts\/pfbid0rhKEKYxek2FV9sJAv6SyAyDuWEX2EGxw87JXmyttHDWUB5LSZE5He2gDfHpQHWA8l?rdid=0bhOtpLdnsyUuH8r\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">statement on Facebook<\/a> on Wednesday, he said he strongly condemned the assassination attempt and wished Mr. Fico a speedy recovery, but called the prime minister\u2019s speech a disappointment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The opposition Freedom and Solidarity party also issued a statement on Facebook denouncing any notion that it was connected to the shooting.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe strongly object to any association of the murderer and his act against the prime minister with our policy, which is based on factual and professional criticism,\u201d the statement said, adding that Mr. Fico had crossed a line by \u201cthrowing dirt on the opposition.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/06\/05\/world\/europe\/slovakia-prime-minister-robert-fico-speech.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Prime Minister Robert Fico of Slovakia spoke publicly for the first time since being shot three weeks ago, blaming the opposition in a video released on Wednesday for what he described as a politically motivated assassination attempt. In the recorded video address, which was posted to the official Facebook pages for Mr. Fico and his [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":66624,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/06\/05\/multimedia\/05xp-slovakia-vfzb\/05xp-slovakia-vfzb-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[16643,707,2124,8088,38088,51189,632,222],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66623"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66623"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66623\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66625,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66623\/revisions\/66625"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}