Slovakian PM got a letter with a bullet

Slovak Prime Minister receives an envelope with a bullet inside

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico receives an envelope containing a bullet. The envelope is reported to have come from an unknown sender. The Slovak Government announced this on Wednesday, which said that the matter has now been referred to the Slovak police.

"We can confirm that an envelope containing a bullet addressed to the Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic was delivered today to the Government Chancellery," the Government Chancellery said.

It said that officials from the Constitutional Officers and the Protection of Diplomatic Representatives inspected the envelope. The bullet was detected by X-ray^[1].

"This matter is being dealt with by the police from the relevant department under the Bratislava Regional Police Directorate," said Bratislava Regional Police spokesman Michal Seiff.

The incident comes a few months after an attempt on Fico's life shocked Slovakia and Europe.

Fico was shot on 15 May while meeting supporters after a cabinet meeting in the small town of Handlova.

The Prime Minister was then shot at by Juraj Cintula, 71, who said he disagreed with the policies of the current government. He remains in custody and is currently facing terrorism charges and 25 years to life imprisonment.

The attack has sparked more strife in Slovak politics

Mr Fico has undergone several surgeries after suffering life-threatening injuries in the shooting. He returned to work a few months later, although he was released from hospital on 31 May. A few days later, he made his first public appearance at a ceremony near Bratislava.

He then gave a speech welcoming Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's visit to Moscow, saying he "would have been happy to join him" if his health had allowed. Fico also called on Slovakia to build a wall to protect against "progressive and liberal ideologies", comparing them to cancer^[2].

Such talk has only fuelled tensions between Fico's party and the opposition. In addition, the Slovak Prime Minister has stated that another assassination attempt could be made against him, accusing his opponents of inciting hatred and violence against the government.

"I am 100% sure that there will be another attempt on the life of a government representative if the opposition and some media outlets do not stop what they are doing", he stated.

Although Fico said that police security measures had been stepped up after the attack, which made it more difficult to mount another attack, he stressed that the threat remains high.

"However, it is possible that someone, for example, will target a gathering of voters of government parties. That is what I fear", the Slovak Prime Minister said.

Both he and other ruling politicians have repeatedly insisted that the liberal opposition and the media are to blame for the attack in May.

They argue that the disinformation spread by the opposition and the demonization of the ruling parties created an aggressive environment.

Laws on gatherings have been tightened since the shootings

For its part, the opposition accuses the government of using the attack to stifle criticism of its policies.

Fico's critics point out that since the attack, a controversial law has come into force in Slovakia, which, among other things, restricts freedom of assembly. It was adopted at the end of June.

From now on, assemblies are banned within a 50-metre radius of the Government House, the Presidency, the Parliament, and all court buildings.

Demonstrations against politicians outside their residences are also banned. Assemblies that endanger public order can also be banned.

Opponents have warned that the law is a step towards a "police state". The package also provides that the presidents of the parties represented in Parliament, the Attorney General and the President of the Constitutional Court, have the right to personal protection^[3].

The tightening of the law comes after the Slovak authorities reclassified the attempt on the life of the country's Prime Minister as a terrorist attack rather than an attempted murder.

Fico has been active in Slovak politics for decades

Fico, 59, leads a tripartite governing coalition consisting of his own populist centrist Smer-SD party, the centrist Hlas party and the far-right SNS. Fico's party has been in power since October last year.

Fico is not new to Slovak politics. He is a former member of the Czechoslovak Communist Party, and in the late 1990s, he and his colleagues founded the Smer-SD party, which began criticizing Slovakia's then right-wing government. The party also took an anti-corruption stance and used this to gain significant popularity in the early 2000s, becoming one of the dominant parties in Slovak politics.

Fico first became Prime Minister in 2006, but since 2012, he has been increasingly associated with controversy, and in 2018, he was forced to step down as Prime Minister due to his links to the criminal underworld, corruption, and the murder of a local journalist.

Now back in power, Fico is characterized by his critical stance on support for Ukraine, his moderate attitude towards Russia, his friendship with Orban's Hungary, and his criticism of the European Union (EU) and Brussels. Fico's cabinet has also approved bills with mixed views, which endangers the freedom of the judiciary and the media.