Why did you shoot the Prime Minister five times? , white-haired poet
The five bodyguards of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fizo ultimately failed to stop the 71-year-old man named Juraj Sintura.
On May 15, local time, Prime Minister Fizo walked out of the venue after a meeting in Handlova, a town in central Slovakia.
The crowd outside the stadium greeted Fizzo warmly. Fizzo stepped forward to talk and shake hands. One old man seemed particularly agitated and shouted. He had white hair and didn't look threatening. As Fizzo approached him and tried to shake his hand, shots rang out.
Video footage exposed online showed that after the first gunshot, Fizzo stumbled backwards, tripped over the bench behind him, and fell to the ground.
The bodyguards immediately surrounded him and escorted Fizo to a black car next to him.
The scene was chaotic. The gunman was immediately subdued by the police and is currently in custody. The case has been handed over to the Slovak National Criminal Service.
It was reported that Fizzo was in critical condition after he was taken to the hospital. Later in the day, Slovak Deputy Prime Minister Tomas Taraba told the BBC: "I am very shocked... Fortunately, as far as I know, the operation went well and I think he will survive in the end... He is currently No life-threatening injuries.”
Taraba said one bullet penetrated Fizo's stomach and another struck him in the joint.
The US "Politician" magazine website reported that the prime minister was publicly attacked. This was another public security incident that "challenged social taboos" that the Slovak people could hardly believe since the Slovak journalist was shot dead in 2018.
Although Fico has served as Prime Minister of Slovakia four times, many people may not be too familiar with him before this shooting incident.
Fizo was born in a small town in western Slovakia in 1964. His father was a forklift driver and his mother was a shoe store clerk.
Although he comes from an ordinary family, he does well in school and aspires to become a politician or archaeologist when he grows up, or else become a reporter in his favorite sports field. According to reports, after entering politics, Fizo still enjoyed fitness and watching football games, and also developed a strong interest in sports cars.
In 1982, he was admitted to Comenius University in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, where he studied law, the school's trump card major. A few years later, he graduated with honors and entered the Slovak National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Law, where he obtained a doctorate in law and was awarded the title of associate professor.
But Fizzo has not forgotten his original ideals and is still looking for opportunities to enter the political arena.
In 1992, the Czechoslovak Republic disintegrated against the backdrop of drastic changes in Eastern Europe. In the same year, Fizo was elected to the Slovak National Assembly for the first time.
After accumulating a certain amount of experience and connections in the political arena, he founded the Social Democratic Party and became an unparalleled political star. However, his political career has not been smooth sailing since then.
In 2006, Fico was promoted to the position of prime minister for the first time and led Slovakia to join the euro zone three years later. However, in 2010, because the ruling allies of the Direction Party lost too many seats in the parliamentary elections, Fizo failed to form a government and regretfully left the party.
In 2012, the center-right coalition collapsed due to corruption accusations, and Fizo ushered in the opportunity to "make a comeback" and was elected prime minister for the second time. Four years later, he was re-elected.
In 2018, an investigative journalist and his fiancée were murdered in Slovakia. Many people suspected that the case was related to the fact that the reporter was investigating the links between political figures and the "Mafia". The case continued to ferment, triggering political turmoil in Slovakia and forcing Fizo to resign to calm public opinion.
After the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Slovakia, which originally relied on Russian energy, was hit by a sharp rise in energy prices. "Slovakia's economic and social indicators have never been so bad." Fizo said that the problems faced by Slovakia are much more severe than those of Ukraine. If he is successfully elected as prime minister, he will have Slovakia stop military aid to Ukraine.
This move was supported by many voters. Under such circumstances, in 2023, Fizo started his fourth term as prime minister.
On the second day after taking office as prime minister, Fizo made headlines in many European media. The United States and the West believe that after Fico comes to power, Slovakia will become another "thorn in the side" of the EU after Hungary. But Fizo believes that he just puts Slovakia's interests first.
He firmly stated that the new government will perform professionally to bring a better life to the Slovak people.
Just over half a year after Fizo started his new term with great ambitions, he encountered this shooting incident.
According to multiple Slovak media reports, the murderer has been identified as 71-year-old Sintura.
Sintura was born in Leva, Slovakia in 1953 and was a football player. He loves words and is keen on writing poetry and novels. He is an amateur writer. In 1980, he moved to Lithuania and met the famous Soviet singer Lyosha Ekaterina, and the two became lovers.
In 2005, Sintula co-founded the Rainbow Literary Club with others and has published 3 poetry collections and 2 novels so far.
The inner conflicts are clearly visible in his works.
In 2007, Sintura published a collection of poems, "Bifold: The Pain of the Fighter," exploring inner suffering and resistance to violence.
In 2010, Sintura published a collection of poems "Ode to Sacrifice" to express his despair for a Europe that had lost its faith. However, the text also reveals his confusion about faith.
In his novel "Efata" published in 2015, Sintura showed relatively radical views. For example, he was very opposed to immigration and believed that Slovakia should establish a militia to "protect residents, country, culture and traditions" from immigration. .
In 2015, Sintura became a member of the Slovak Writers' Association. However, after the shooting, the association issued a statement saying it was deeply disgusted by Sintura's actions. "We express our indignation at the barbaric behavior of the gunman, which is very rare in the history of Slovakia."
·After the shooting, the suspect Sintula was quickly subdued.
Sintura not only focuses on the field of literature, but was also an active social activist before.
Hungarian investigative journalist Sabolc Panj posted on Facebook that Sintura was a member of the "Slovenian branch". The group is an unregistered paramilitary organization that has been recruiting young members within Slovakia since 2012. A photo from January 2016 shows Sintura delivering an impassioned speech accompanied by panelists wearing camouflage uniforms.
Even though he published several literary works, few people paid attention to them. Sintula, who has loved writing for most of his life, was only an amateur writer until he grew old. In order to make ends meet, he had to work as a security guard in a supermarket.
In 2016, Sintula was beaten by "drug-addicted youths" while on duty in a supermarket. Anger and humiliation made him determined to change this "crazy world." He published a poem, "A Rebel's Dream," and his inner torment revealed the dark side of his heart—violence.
The influx of immigrants into Europe has changed the face of Europe to a certain extent. Seeing strange faces one after another, Sintula became melancholy, gloomy, and desperate. Words could no longer soothe his inner suffering, and he became conservative and exclusive.
Internally, he became increasingly dissatisfied with the current situation of Slovaks, criticizing Fizo in a post on social media: “In Slovakia now, every village has gambling machines, and gamblers borrow money from family, relatives and friends to gamble. Spending your life and wasting money in front of the machine. This adds up to hundreds of thousands of euros. What has the government done about this?”
Before the shooting, he wrote: "People no longer trust each other and the world has gone crazy."
After Sintula was arrested, a local Slovak TV station exposed a suspected interrogation video. In the video, the person suspected of Sintura said: "I do not agree with the government's policy. Why was the media attacked? Why was Slovak Radio and Television attacked? Why was Mazak dismissed?"
Judging from these words, Sintura's reason for shooting Fizo may have been out of dissatisfaction with his domestic policies. Slovak Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok confirmed at a press conference after the incident that "preliminary information clearly shows that this was politically motivated."
A "political strongman" who is not accepted by the European mainstream
Among European leaders, Fizo is a maverick.
He has a tough stance on the United States. He has strongly opposed U.S. plans to build new anti-ballistic missile and radar systems at military bases in the Czech Republic and Poland, and announced the withdrawal of Slovak troops from Iraq.
He publicly expressed his admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying that if Putin is one day wanted internationally for war crimes, Slovakia is willing to provide him with asylum.
He and Hungarian Prime Minister Orban call each other friends, believing that the other person, like him, also puts his country and people first and "dare to publicly defend the interests of Hungary and the Hungarian people."
Not only does Fizo not support military aid to Ukraine, he is also opposed to Ukraine joining NATO. He even said that "that will be the beginning of World War III."
In terms of domestic policies, Fizo also made drastic reforms.
In February this year, the Slovak Parliament approved reforms to the judicial system and abolished the Office of the Special Prosecutor, which specialized in handling corruption cases of senior government officials.
In April, the Slovak government approved the closure of public service broadcaster RTVS and plans to replace it with a new state broadcaster.
These measures have caused considerable controversy. The reaction of the opposition parties was even more intense, with constant criticism of Fizo. Following the shooting, officials including the Slovak Defense Minister blamed "an increase in hate speech" due to recent political divisions.
"What this shooting reflects is the radicalization and violence of Slovakia's domestic political divisions, which will have a greater impact on the country." Kong Tianping, a researcher at the Institute of European Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told Global News.
Wu Fei, director of the Center for Communication and Public Diplomacy at Jinan University, believes that behind the incident is a reflection of some people in Europe's rejection of some Eastern European countries that follow a "pro-Russian" line.
"Slovakia's foreign policy is relatively 'pro-Russian', and Prime Minister Fizo, as a 'political strongman', advocates a Russian-style elite political model. This model is mainly reflected in efficiently solving some internal problems, and is different from the mainstream European model. The latter's The main model is for the government to cooperate with society and non-governmental organizations to put more emphasis on social welfare," Wu Fei told the Global People reporter.
Wu Fei said that since Slovakia itself is a member of the European Union, this model is a challenge for other European countries. "Some opponents have criticized this 'promising government' model."
At the same time, Wu Fei pointed out that Slovakia, as a relatively peaceful country, may have neglected to strengthen its security measures, which was also one of the reasons for the extreme incident in which the prime minister was shot.
Slovakia was indeed a country that had little to do with violence. However, it was precisely the violence that Slovakia was least good at that almost cost the Prime Minister his life.
After the 60-year-old "political veteran" Fizo has passed the life-and-death crisis, how to bridge domestic differences in the future may still be a problem.
