UPDATE: Slovak Prime Minister Rober Fico Out of Surgery and REGAINS CONSCIOUSNESS after Assassination Attempt: Revised Update Shows 5 Shots to Stomach, Arm, Leg and Only 3 1/2 Hours of Surgery

Thank You for Keeping Him in Your Prayers ~ He is Still Fighting For His Life. NO Gunshot to the Head or Chest Shows This Was Not A Professional Hit ~ But Could Be A Hired Gun

I will be adding an Addendum to my original report.

Thankfully, the initial reports were incorrect on the gunshot to the head or chest. He underwent less than four hours of surgery, and reportedly regained consciousness! However, PM Fico is still in critical condition.

BBC’s Updated Report:

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico is fighting for his life in hospital after being shot in a small town north-east of Bratislava.

On Wednesday evening Defence Minister Robert Kalinak said Mr Fico had been in surgery for over three hours and that the situation was "bad".

Slovak politicians including the president have called the shooting an "attack on democracy".

The alleged assailant was detained at the scene but has not yet been formally identified by the authorities.

Earlier on Wednesday evening Defence Minister Robert Kalinak said Mr Fico had been in surgery for over three hours and that the situation was "bad".

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cg6761ggxz1o

BBC Summary Update:

Summary

1. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has been shot in what officials are calling an assassination attempt

2. On Wednesday evening, the Slovak defence minister said Fico had been in surgery for three-and-a-half hours and was "fighting for his life"

3. Fico was reportedly hit in the stomach, arm and leg - the interior minister says he was shot five times

4. The alleged assailant has been detained by the police - the ministers tell reporters it was a politically-motivated attack

5. Fico was wounded as he left a government meeting in the central town of Handlova

Live Reporting

Edited by James Harness

Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-europe-69016687

Politico’s Update

The Article

MAY 15, 2024 9:01 PM CET

BY NATHALIE WEATHERALD AND KETRIN JOCHECOVÁ

Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico is out of surgery and had regained consciousness, after he was shot five times following a government meeting on Wednesday, according to local media.

Earlier, Defense Minister Robert Kaliňák told press outside the hospital where Fico was being operated on that the prime minister was “fighting for his life,” adding: “We are hoping that he is strong enough to make it.”

“He suffered a polytrauma,” Kaliňák said, adding that 59-year-old Fico had at that point been in surgery for three and half hours. “It’s a really complicated health condition.” More detailed health information will be available later, Kaliňák said.

…

The alleged shooting suspect was identified locally as a 71 year-old writer. Witnesses alleged that after a government meeting, the suspect shouted to Fico to approach him, offering his hand, after which shots were fired.

According to local media reports, the alleged attacker was a published poet and in his retirement worked for a security firm.

Some government officials blamed the violence on Slovakia’s polarized political debate and climate of intolerance for differing viewpoints. The populist prime minister, who returned to power after last September’s election, has faced fierce criticism and protests over his pro-Russia positions and plans to crack down on independent media.

“I can confirm that there has been an assassination attempt,” Interior Minister Matúš Šutaj Eštok said. “The gunman shot five times … the first information we have is that this was a politically motivated act.”

Eštok said the gunman decided to attack Fico following the recent presidential election, which Fico’s colleague Peter Pellegrini won. In the coming days, security will be strengthened for other ministers, he added.

…

The attack marks a sobering moment for politics in Europe. No head of an EU government has ever been killed while in office, stretching all the way back to the bloc’s early iterations as a coal and steel community in the wake of World War II.

…

Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić was fatally shot in 2003, and Armenian Prime Minister Vazgen Sargsyan was slain in a 1997 terrorist attack on the country’s parliament. 

Additionally, former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro was kidnapped and killed in 1978, two years after leaving office. And Swedish leader Olof Palme was shot and killed in 1986, several years before Sweden joined the EU.

Tom Nicholson and Cory Bennett contributed reporting.

This story has been updated.

Source: https://www.politico.eu/article/slovak-prime-minister-robert-fico-in-surgery-after-being-shot-in-politically-motivated-assassination-attempt/

WHAT I REALLY THINK

Gunshot Wound Analysis

After serving seven years at Los Angeles