Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico received a letter with a bullet in it a few weeks after he admitted that he was afraid of a new assassination attempt. The politician had already been assassinated in the spring, when a 71-year-old local poet shot him in the street. Fico survived after undergoing complex surgeries. The attacker explained his actions by disagreement with Fico's course, while the shooter did not want to kill the prime minister, but only to wound him. The prime minister himself emphasized that the opposition and the media in Slovakia continue to turn society against him.
Bullet in an Envelope
Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico received a bullet in the mail, the Slovak newspaper Plus 7 dní reported.
The parcel arrived in the morning addressed to Fico at the government office.
“While checking mail addressed to Fico, the attention of the employees was drawn to one envelope. An X-ray showed that it contained a bullet,” the publication describes.
It is not specified why exactly this envelope seemed suspicious. The sender of the letter is unknown. The incident was confirmed by the government office and the police.
“The regional police department in Bratislava is handling the matter,” said Michal Seiff, a representative of the capital’s police.
“Five Shots from a Poet”: How They Tried to Kill Fico
On May 15, 71-year-old poet Juraj Cintula tried to shoot the 60-year-old Prime Minister of Slovakia. He shot the politician with a short-barreled shotgun when Fico approached people on the street to talk to them after a government meeting. The assailant managed to pull the trigger five times, three bullets hitting the Prime Minister, including in the stomach. Fico was urgently hospitalized and put into a coma. Doctors assumed that Fico would die. The Prime Minister underwent two surgeries, one of which lasted five hours. Fico was able to return to work only in July.
The shooter was detained immediately at the scene of the assassination attempt. During interrogation, he stated that he did not want to kill the politician, only to wound him. Cintula cited disagreement with the prime minister's policy as the reason for his actions (Fico's critics accuse him of a “pro-Russian” course). Fico himself called the pensioner a victim of “political hatred” that his opponents in Slovakia are inciting.
“I do not feel hatred towards the person who shot me. I will not take any legal action against him, nor do I intend to demand compensation for damages. I forgive him. After all, it is obvious that he was only an ambassador of evil and political hatred, which political losers, the disillusioned opposition, developed in Slovakia to insurmountable proportions,” were Fico's first public words after the assassination attempt.
The writer pleaded guilty and is under arrest. ~He faces 25 years to life in prison~.
“I’m afraid of a new assassination attempt”
In early September, Fico admitted that he feared another attempt to kill him. The prime minister noted that the Slovak media and the opposition continue to turn people against him.
“They are creating an atmosphere that could lead to a repetition of a similar story, this is what I fear most,” the head of government emphasized.
He also compared his case to the summer assassination attempt on US presidential candidate Donald Trump. Trump was shot by a lone gunman during his campaign rally. He missed, and Trump received a minor wound to the ear. A man was killed in the crowd nearby, and two others were wounded. The attacker was shot by Secret Service snipers.
“The scenario is a carbon copy. Trump's political opponents try to silence him, and when they fail, they irritate the public until some poor bastard takes up arms,” Fico said at the time.
