Slovak police are investigating whether the suspected gunman who attempted to kill Prime Minister Robert Fico was not, as initially claimed, a “lone wolf” but had an accomplice.
Left wing terrorist or out-of-control lone wolf, little is officially acknowledged about the alleged gunman, who tried to kill Prime Minister Robert Fico last week. Yet despite the order by the government for police not to reveal his name, a series of leaks and briefings to the press, the identity of the accused Juraj Cintula, his political past, and even his taped confession have been widely disseminated in national and foreign media.
At first it was said Cintula was a “lone gunman”, but now Minister of the Interior Matúš Šutaj Eštok has announced the investigation team is investigating whether he had accomplices. One such line of inquiry is that hours after the attack — while Cintula was in police custody and had no means to do so himself — his Facebook chat history was wiped.
Police have discounted the possibility it was the work of the suspect’s wife, given she lacked the technical competency, reports Konzervatívny denník Postoj (‘The Conservative Daily Post’). The team is also investigating whether Cintula was in chat groups where killing the Prime Minister may have been discussed, or joked about.
Meanwhile, Fico — who was by all accounts close to death after last week’s shooting and survived after a major five hour surgery — is still improving, but remains very unwell. A deputy director of the F. D. Roosevelt University Hospital in Banská Bystrica where Fico is being treated said the recovery “will take a long time” and he still needs rest to convalesce.
The hospital itself said in a separate statement that Fico’s condition is stable, “improving clinically”, inflammation is “slowly decreasing”, and he is communicating.
Nevertheless Fico is not able to be transported, suggesting he remains in delicate position and talk in Slovak media hoping for a possible statement from the Prime Minister himself may not be realistic yet.
As well as investigating the gunman, Slovak police are also chasing up incidents of what they call “hate speech” around the attack. A man who stood outside Fico’s hospital on the day of the shooting and shouted about how he approved of the attack was jailed for three months on Sunday, convicted of “approving of crime”.
Some 50 social media posts approving of the attempted assassination are being investigated by Slovak police also as potential criminal instances of “online hate speech”.