Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico was shot five times in the town of Handlova on Wednesday, where he had been meeting supporters and taken to hospital.after four hours of emergency surgery. Fico’s political career has not been without controversy.Credit:Fico is serving his third term as prime minister of Slovakia, after two earlier non-consecutive periods as the central European country’s leader.
His popularity has been based on his vow to support the living standards of those left behind in a country where conditions for many are only slowly catching up with Western Europe after a communist-era past.Why is he controversial?, and his fiancee, Martina Kusnirova, who had been uncovering government corruption.
The protests rocked the country, demanding the resignation of the government and new elections. They were the largest seen since the 1989 Velvet Revolution, when huge protests ended the one-party communist government in what was then Czechoslovakia.Credit:He has also repeated Russian President Vladimir Putin’s unsupported claim that the Ukrainian government runs a “Nazi state” from which ethnic Russians in the country need protection.
. Thousands of people have rallied in the capital and across Slovakia to protest against Fico’s policies.After winning office he lowered penalties for financial crimes, cut the statute of limitations for rape, and scrapped a special prosecutor’s office that dealt with high-level corruption. In April, his government announced plans to abolish the public broadcaster and replace it with a new body. It has faced fierce backlash from opposition parties who say it will give the government full control of public radio and television.
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