what is the profile of Juraj Chintula, suspected of having wanted to kill the Slovak Prime Minister?

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico remains in serious condition following Wednesday’s attack. Gunshots hit him as he was leaving a political meeting in the center of the country. The shooter was arrested. We know more about his motivations.

The man who shot the Slovak Prime Minister four times on Wednesday May 15 is a 71-year-old writer and poet whose story paints the profile of a man of the left with contradictory temptations. Co-founder of a literary club called “Rainbow”Juraj Chintula launched in 2016 hnutie Proti nasiliu, a political and citizen movement “against violence“in society, in all its forms.

A few years later, however, he was said to be associated with a paramilitary group, according to the revelations of a Hungarian investigative journalist and owner of a legally acquired firearm, his son confirmed to investigators. Juraj Chintula wore it when he worked as a driver to improve his retirement.

A video has been circulating on social networks since Wednesday. He appears filmed in close-up, his face slightly swollen.

Behind the camera, a man asks him to explain his action, he replies: “I do not agree with the government’s policy. The media are liquidated. Why is Slovak radio and television under attack? Why is Judge Mazak (former president of the judicial council) fired?“Words that echo the articles that are very critical of the government that he publishes on his blog.

With the reform of television and the ousting of a judge, Juraj Chintula refers to two headline-grabbing issues that are polarizing society.

A highly contested bill wants to place public broadcasting under political supervision to make it an organ of propaganda. A final measure from a populist government which for six months has been trying to muzzle institutions and the media, exactly on the model of what Viktor Orban did in Hungary, to which the Slovak leader is ideologically very close. In the pipeline, there is also the reform which softens the penalties for corruption and abolishes the office of the special prosecutor which has been working on these subjects for 20 years.

This text is such a threat to the rule of law that Brussels is even considering financial sanctions against Slovakia. Remember that it was following the assassination of an investigative journalist, Yan Kuciak, that Robert Fico had to resign in 2018. In his investigation, Yan Kuciak highlighted the links between the Italian mafia and the government .

Despite the excesses of the Fico government, the attack on it created astonishment in Slovakia and around the world. “Nothing can ever justify such violence“, said the President of the European Council Charles Michel. Most Western leaders said they were deeply shocked by this event described as “vile“, “odious” Or “appalling“.

Everyone remembers that political arguments are part of democracy and assassination attempts are not. But in Slovakia, among calls for calm, we hear Robert Fico’s closest political allies already blaming the attack on the liberal opposition and the media. Deputy Prime Minister Andrej Danko speaks of a “political war” coming soon. Slovakia is entering uncharted territory.