Slovakian Fico regrets not visiting Putin with Orbán in his first public appearance since the attack – POLITICO

“If my health had allowed it, I would have been very happy to travel with him,” said the Slovak Prime Minister.

On May 15, Fico was shot four times by a retired security official, Juraj Cintula. Cintula said he opposed the policies of Fico’s government, including the abolition of the special prosecutor’s office, which had been in charge of the most serious corruption crimes, and the suspension of military aid to Ukraine. Fico spent weeks in hospital and is expected to suffer long-term health consequences.

Cintula, 71, who had already faced 25 years in prison for attempted murder if convicted, now faces life in prison after the charge was upgraded to terrorist attack on Wednesday.

The invitation-only event at Devín Castle on Friday was under tight security. Ministers, MPs, ambassadors and other selected guests attended. Fico was driven into the castle courtyard in a limousine and received a standing ovation from his audience. His speech was broadcast on television so that the public and media outside the castle walls could watch. Fico left the castle immediately after his speech.

“The people who were here in the ninth century were our ancestors and we are their descendants,” Fico said in his speech, referring to the two brothers Cyril and Methodius, Byzantine Christian missionaries who brought the gospel to Great Moravia, including Devín and other parts of present-day Slovakia, in 863 A.D. July 5 is a national holiday in honor of the saints in both Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

“We have included a reference to … Cyril and Methodius in our constitution,” Fico continued. “Slovakia should be democratic, sovereign, social and ecological, and although they did not write the exact words, it should (also) be normal. And this normality is guaranteed by the spiritual legacy of Cyril and Methodius,” he said.