(16 May 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Banska Bystrica, Slovakia – 16 May 2024
1. Journalists waiting for President-elect of Slovakia Peter Pellegrini’s arrival
2. SOUNDBITE (Slovak) Peter Pellegrini, President-elect of Slovakia:
"I have to say that, after a short visit to Prime Minister Robert Fico, I must say that his state of health remains very serious, and I was only allowed to speak to him for a few minutes because his current condition really requires peace and quiet without any other external distractions."
3. Journalists
4. SOUNDBITE (Slovak) Peter Pellegrini, President-elect of Slovakia:
"I want to speak once again from this place to the Slovak Republic citizens, for whom this event was rather a great sensation yesterday, that today, after 24 hours, more people should reflect on what happened yesterday in Slovakia."
5. Journalists
6. SOUNDBITE (Slovak) Peter Pellegrini, President-elect of Slovakia:
"From this place, I would like to wish once again Prime Minister Robert Fico a great deal of strength in the struggle ahead of him because he is facing a very difficult period indeed. I am keeping my fingers crossed for him, and I hope that no further complications will arise that would aggravate the already serious state of health that he is in today. And I would ask that the citizens of the Slovak Republic think in the same way in these difficult and challenging moments for Slovakia so that we really do put human values above political or opinion values and that we think today also of Prime Minister Robert Fico, especially as a man whom one individual, I do not know whether he was confused or too extremely politically influenced, decided to assassinate yesterday just because he disagreed with the style of politics that the government headed by our Prime Minister is pursuing."
++ENDS ON SOUNDBITE++
STORYLINE:
Slovakia’s president-elect, Peter Pellegrini, said Thursday that Prime Minister Robert Fico, who was shot the previous day, remained in a serious condition.
Speaking to reporters, Pellegrini said he had only been allowed to speak with Fico for a few minutes "because his current condition really requires peace and quiet without any other external distractions."
Pellegrini wished Fico "a great deal of strength in the struggle ahead of him because he is facing a very difficult period indeed."
Slovak authorities charged a man Thursday with attempting to assassinate the populist prime minister saying the suspect acted alone in a politically motivated attack that laid bare the extreme polarization that has gripped the small central European country.
Fico, 59, was in serious but stable condition a day after being shot multiple times in the stomach, a hospital official said.
The attempted assassination has shocked the nation and reverberated across the continent weeks ahead of European elections.
Fico has long been a divisive figure in Slovakia and beyond, and his return to power last year on a pro-Russian, anti-American message led to even greater worries among fellow European Union and NATO members that he would abandon his country’s pro-Western course — particularly on Ukraine.
Fico’s government has also made efforts to overhaul public broadcasting — a move critics said would result in the government’s full control of public television and radio.
That coupled with his plans to amend the penal code to eliminate a special anti-graft prosecutor have led opponents to worry that Fico will lead Slovakia down a more autocratic path.
Slovak police have provided little information on the identity of the suspect.
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