PS: Responsibility for Assassination Attempt Rests with Interior Minister (2)

Namestovo/Bratislava, March 15 (TASR) - Political responsibility for last year's attempted assassination of Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) lies with Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok (Voice-SD), who is responsible for the protection of constitutional officials, leader of the opposition Progressive Slovakia (PS) party Michal Simecka declared in Namestovo (Zilina region) on Thursday. Simecka spoke along with other PS at a press conference marking the first anniversary of the assassination attempt on Fico. Simecka expressed concern that the prime minister is currently unfit to lead the country. "He's focused only on himself, his grievances, his traumas, shutting himself off. And those aren't just my words — they're also, by the way, the words of one of his coalition partners. Instead of addressing Slovakia's problems, he's only attacking the opposition. That is why I say in all seriousness that I fear he's not capable of governing the country," he added. Simecka underlined that PS immediately and firmly condemned the heinous act a year ago and temporarily suspended all its political activities, including its campaign for the European Parliament. Opposition MP Peter Bator further clarified that the investigation hasn't produced any additional results. "We have a charged individual who will stand trial. And we have clear mechanisms in the state for how to proceed. But we also have a scandalous leaked video from a police station, which has still not been investigated. In fact, the investigation was halted with the explanation that they didn't have a clue who did it. There's also an ongoing review of how effective the security detail was — five shots were fired before the prime minister received assistance. We have no outcomes from that, either. The only result we have is the promotion of the head of the Interior Ministry’s Internal Affairs Inspectorate to the rank of general," said Bator. The PS chair stated that it would have been helpful if, on the anniversary of the assassination attempt, the governing coalition had not convened the State Security Council, which, he said, was politically misused against the opposition, the media and the people of Slovakia. "It would help if the governing coalition stopped blaming us — the opposition — or even our party for what happened to the prime minister because that is exactly what fuels further tensions. It would help, for instance, if there were a proper investigation into who leaked the attacker’s recording to the public. Some transparency in these matters would be useful," added Simecka. mf/df