BRATISLAVA, May 15. /TASS/. The assassination attempt on Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico was politically motivated, the TA3 news channel reported.
"I do not agree with the [Fico] government’s policy," said the shooter called Juraj Cintula, as quoted by the television channel.
He made this statement right after his detention, saying that he had opposed the government’s policy limiting media freedom. According to the television channel, the man might have plotted the attack on the prime minister during the last month.
The allegation that the 71-year-old writer Cintula, who carried out the assassination attempt on Fico, disagreed with the government’s policy was corroborated by his son.
"Let me say this: he [father] did not vote for him [Fico during the election to the parliament]," the man said when asked by the Aktuality news website if his father hated the prime minister. He added that Juraj Cintula had never mentioned any intention to make an attempt on the politician’s life.
Meanwhile, Slovak media reported that Fico’s security officers are to blame for the successful assassination attempt. The experts, who commented on the incident, said that the prime minister’s bodyguards were ‘a total fiasco’. They believe that the incident should have been avoided provided that those acted professionally, in conformity with the procedure.