Fico: I'm Not Traumatised by Attack, Shooter's Motives Must Be Investigated

        Handlova, September 6 (TASR) - I'm not traumatised by the assassination attempt on me, Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) said following his working trip in Handlova (Trencin region) on Friday, where he was shot and seriously injured almost four months ago.
        According to the premier, it's necessary to look at the background of the attack and the motives of the shooter. He doesn't consider it to be a priority to address whether the security failed, he sees the problem elsewhere.
        The premier stated that he doesn't think about the person of the attacker and has no trauma whatsoever. "I've even adopted a philosophy of my own that it just happened and I don't even desire any revenge," he stated, reiterating that he isn't taking any legal action in relation to the attacker and won't even seek any compensation.
        Rather, he said, it's necessary to talk about the background to the assassination attempt. "We need to tell the Slovak public, first of all, what actually happened, because the opposition would like us to deal with the security service, whether it failed or not, and there is a different problem here. Here is the problem that someone wanted to assassinate the prime minister because of political hatred, now I'm not talking about Robert Fico, I'm talking about the prime minister of the Slovak Republic," stressed Fico, adding that Parliament should also discuss the issue.
        Fico stated in August that the House should address the report on the assassination attempt in the autumn. He added on Friday that there should be an investigation into who the attacker was communicating with. "Someone will write it [the report], I'm waiting to see if it is the Interior Ministry or someone else. That report has to naturally come to the environment, I expect it should be in early September, because that was announced a few weeks ago, but I don't want to be involved in the report and its compilation, I don't want to bring my own attitudes into it," he added, reiterating that the opposition and part of the media refused to respect the results of the parliamentary elections.
        The prime minister was shot following an away-from-home cabinet meeting in Handlova on May 15 by Juraj C. [name abbreviated due to legal reasons], who is now being prosecuted for a particularly serious crime of terrorist attack. The attacker caused several serious injuries by shooting at the premier five times from a close range.