(19 May 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Banska Bystrica, Slovakia – 19 May 2024
1. Various exteriors of the F. D. Roosevelt University Hospital
2. Various of people gathered in silence with flowers
3. Various of people applauding
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Bratislava – 19 May 2024
4. Pan of Slovak Minister of Defense Robert Kalinak and Slovak Minister of Interior Matus Sutaj Estok arriving
5. SOUNDBITE (Slovak) Robert Kalinak, Slovak Minister of Defense:
"The whole political spectrum today has only one task and that is to adjust our rules for the future so that we avoid a situation like the one that happened this week. At the same time, we also have the legislative space to make changes that will better guarantee the protection of those fundamental rights of the people that are written in our constitution."
6. Mid of ministers
7. SOUNDBITE (Slovak) Robert Kalinak, Slovak Minister of Defense:
"There has been some assistance here in covering his (the suspect) tracks. It means that a third party acted for the benefit of the suspect, plus other clues that say that the facts of Wednesday’s attack have been discussed in a wider circle. All of this is shocking."
8. Mid of Kalinak
9. SOUNDBITE (Slovak) Robert Kalinak, Slovak Minister of Defense:
"I will ask the Deputy Chair of the Security Council, Mrs Sakova, to call a Security Council on Wednesday before the cabinet meeting, in which we want to take note of all the information from the intelligence services and the police force. We will certainly prepare measures, particularly with regard to the protection of those institutions and facilities that are of strategic importance."
10. Wide of Kalinak and Estok
11. SOUNDBITE (Slovak) Matus Sutaj Estok, Slovak Minister of the Interior:
"That’s why we’ve expanded our version, that not only the lone wolf version (is active) but the more realistic version that he informed a certain group of people that he was close to (performing) this crime, is proving to be more realistic."
12. Ministers leaving
STORYLINE:
Members of Slovakia’s government suggested in a news conference on Sunday that others may have been aware of the recent attempted assassination of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico before the attack took place.
Their comments come as people gathered with flowers outside the F. D. Roosevelt University Hospital in the Slovak city of Banska Bystrica, where Fico is being treated.
"The more realistic version that he informed a certain group of people that he was close to (performing) this crime, is proving to be more realistic," said Slovak Minister of the Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok said.
"There has been some assistance here in covering his (the suspect) tracks. It means that a third party acted for the benefit of the suspect, plus other clues that say that the facts of Wednesday’s attack have been discussed in a wider circle," added Slovak Minister of Defense Robert Kalinak.
Fico, 59, was shot in the abdomen as he greeted supporters following a government meeting Wednesday in the former coal mining town of Handlova, in an attack that sent shockwaves across the deeply polarized European Union nation.
His condition remains "serious" but worst fears have "passed," Kalinak told journalists on Sunday.
World leaders have condemned the attack and offered support for Slovakia and Fico, who has long been a divisive figure in Slovakia and beyond.
Slovakia was one of Ukraine’s staunchest supporters after Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, but Fico halted arms deliveries when he returned to power.
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