Gunman who shot Slovakian PM is 71-year-old poet with 'links to pro-Russian paramilitary'

The shooting in Handlova, in Central Slovakia, saw Cintula lean over a fence while Fico was meeting crowds, shooting five times and hitting the PM thrice - twice in the hand and once in the abdomen.

Slovakia's Interior Minister, Matus Sutaj Estok, said authorities suspected the attack, which left Fico fighting for his life in hospital, was premeditated and politically motivated.

Estok said later: "This is a lone wolf who had radicalised himself in the latest period after the presidential election," adding that Cintula had taken part in anti-government protests - but had acted alone.

Cintula had been arrested immediately after the attack; his son told local media: "I have no idea what father intended, what he planned, why it happened. Maybe there was some short circuit."

His son, speaking to local TV station Markiza, said his father legally owned the pistol, and had a firearms licence.

He denied reports that Cintula had received psychiatric treatment, but said his father had not voted for Fico, adding: "That’s all I can say about it."

Following his arrest, a video was published showing Cintula answering questions in a corridor some time before yesterday, saying: "I don’t agree with the government’s policy... They are liquidating the media."

The assailant was referring to the Slovak Government's planned dissolution of the country's national broadcaster RTVS - against which thousands of people have protested in the last few weeks.

The 71-year-old amateur poet is a member of the Association of Slovak Writers - which has said it would immediately cancel his membership if authorities officially named him as the shooter.

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In 2016, while Cintula was promoting a political party he'd founded called the Movement Against Violence, he wrote online: "Violence is often a reaction of people, as a form of expression of ordinary discontent at the state of things. Let’s be dissatisfied, but not violent!"

While in a self-posted video at around the same time, he said: "The world is full of violence and weapons. People seem to be going crazy."

But despite his apparent pacifist leanings, Cintula has been pictured multiple times standing alongside Slovak Conscripts. Images published online by the group show the 71-year-old standing alongside SB personnel clad in military fatigues and holding flags.

The image, from January 2016, is accompanied by a quote attributed to Cintula in which he praises the organisation for its "ability to act without the order of the state, which is simply incomprehensible in a passive society like ours."

According to reports from investigative outlet VSquare, SB leaders received training from Russian Spetsnaz instructors while the group was being formed, while members are said to have fought for Russia in Ukraine.

But despite Cintula's links to pro-Russian groups, Robert Fico himself has caused controversy for his pro-Russian stance.

In the past, Fico has pledged to end Western arms deliveries heading to Ukraine through Slovakia, and has claimed Russia would never give up occupied parts of Ukraine like Crimea and the Donbas, and talked up Vladimir Putin as "wrongly demonised" by the West.

In reaction to the shooting, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "Naturally, we condemn this attack in the strongest possible terms... We consider it absolutely unacceptable - this is really a great tragedy.

"We hope that Mr Fico will be able to pull through and recover as soon as possible. We wish him a speedy recovery."

While Putin himself said: "I was indignant to learn about the attempt on the life of the Chairman of the Government of the Slovak Republic, Robert Fico. There can be no justification for this monstrous crime.

"I know Robert Fico as a courageous and strong-minded man. I very much hope that these qualities will help him to survive this difficult situation."