The court document shows that the Slovak prime minister’s shooter opposed Ukraine’s policy

The court document shows that the attacker accused of shooting Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said he acted out of frustration with the government’s policies and, above all, with the prime minister’s decision to end military support for Ukraine.

The document shows that the suspect, identified as 71-year-old Juraj C., told investigators that he acted alone and had no intention of killing Fico, whom he shot at point-blank range after a government meeting northeast of Bratislava on May 15. which Bloomberg received after requesting information from the court in the case.

After the first shooting of a European leader in over two decades, Fico is recovering in an intensive care unit in central Slovakia. As one of Europe’s most politically polarized nations grapples with the fallout from the attack, authorities were trying to establish a motive.

The claim that he acted alone may undermine government authorities’ suggestion that the attacker may have been part of a wider conspiracy.

Read more: Slovak lawmakers unite to condemn shooting of prime minister

The attacker, knocked to the ground by security guards after firing five shots into Fico’s stomach, also expressed opposition to the prime minister’s decision to liquidate the special prosecutor’s office and, as he put it, the persecution of cultural and media workers.

On Ukraine, he told investigators he considered Fico’s nationalist-backed government “treasonous to the European Union.”

The leaders of the Fico coalition sharply criticized the Slovak opposition and the media, which they blame for the radicalization of the suspect. Defense Minister Robert Kalinak, a close ally whom Fico entrusted to temporarily lead the government, has repeatedly accused the media of slandering the prime minister.

Still, lawmakers earlier this week unanimously backed a parliamentary resolution condemning the shooting in an attempt to head off political recriminations.

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