(16 May 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Bratislava – 16 May 2024
1. Journalist waiting for the start of news conference
2. SOUNDBITE (Slovak) Robert Kalinak, Slovakia’s Minister of Defence:
"At the beginning, let me also inform you about the current state of his health, which remains serious, and where members of the medical team at Roosevelt Hospital in Banská Bystrica are doing excellent work to stabilize his condition and progress towards a positive prognosis."
3. Wide of news conference
4. SOUNDBITE (Slovak) Matus Sutaj Estok, Slovakia’s Minister of Interior:
"I would like to confirm that the Slovak Republic Police are today working with only one version of the attack, that the perpetrator has to date been charged with the crime of attempted murder. We are working with only one version, and it was a politically motivated act. Compared to yesterday, I can confirm to you that the reasons why it was a politically motivated attempted premeditated murder are, as the suspect himself said: the media information that he had at his disposal, that he was working with, since he was very much involved in political events, and it was information that you have recently presented. The way you presented them, on that I think each of you can reflect. Those reasons were: the abolition of the Office of the Special Prosecutor, the cessation of military aid to Ukraine, the interference in public television and the dismissal of the President of the Judicial Council. Those were all the reasons that the suspect gave."
5. Wide of news conference
6. SOUNDBITE (Slovak) Matus Sutaj Estok, Slovakia’s Minister of Interior:
"I say this to everyone, especially to all the ‘masters of the world’ behind the keyboard, that we will act firmly and uncompromisingly. This is the message from the Interior Ministry and the Police Service. Therefore, let them think very carefully about whether it is right to threaten someone’s death behind a keyboard or to publicly endorse the assassination of the Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic."
++ENDS ON SOUNDBITE++
STORYLINE:
The Slovak government on Thursday blamed media outlets and the opposition for the assassination attempt on Prime Minister Robert Fico.
Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok said that the investigation found that the assassination was clearly a "politically motivated act”.
However, he said that the suspect was charged alone.
The minister did not specify what the motivation was, but blamed media outlets and the opposition.
"It was information that you have recently presented. The way you presented them, on that I think each of you can reflect," he said to journalists during a news conference.
Fico’s party won parliamentary elections last year on a pro-Russian and anti-American platform.
After his election victory, the new government immediately halted arms deliveries to Ukraine.
Thousands repeatedly took to the streets across Slovakia to rally against Fico’s pro-Russian and other policies, including plans to amend the penal code to eliminate a special anti-graft prosecutor and to take control of public media.
"Those were all the reasons that the suspect gave," Estok said.
Estok also warned that the ministry and the police service will "act firmly" if they "publicly endorse the assassination", including online.
Defence Minister Robert Kalinak said Fico remained in a serious condition.
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