Slovakian Charged in Shooting ‘Was Against Everything’

Slovakian Charged in Shooting ‘Was Against Everything’


He wrote dark, erotic verse and poems featuring torture and pain. He also self-published a book that railed against Roma people and asked why Slovakia had not produced a homegrown version of Anders Behring Breivik, the Norwegian terrorist.

“Where is the Slovak Breivik? Has he not been born yet? And what if he has been?” he asked in the book. “I didn’t shoot anyone. I told myself — I’ll write a book.”

Then on Wednesday, the 71-year-old former coal mine worker, onetime stone mason and lifelong malcontent was charged with opening fire at point-blank range on Prime Minister Robert Fico of Slovakia.

As soon as news broke that an unidentified man had shot Mr. Fico in central Slovakia, it was obvious to Milan Maruniak, a retired coal miner, who must be responsible.

“I was 99 percent sure it was him. It couldn’t be anybody else,” said Mr. Maruniak, a longtime colleague of the man who has been charged with “attempted premeditated murder” but still has not been named by the authorities.

Wednesday’s shooting, the worst attack on a European leader in decades, sent shock waves across Europe.

But the fact that the man who had lived in this provincial town was arrested came as no real surprise to some who knew him. “He was always so weird and angry,” Mr. Maruniak said. “It was only a matter of time before something happened.”

Slovakia’s prosecutor has placed an embargo on information relating to the case, and banned the police from disclosing the name of the man who has been charged. But the prosecutor’s office said “it would not be wrong” to identify the man as Juraj C., the name widely reported by the Slovakian news media. It is not clear if the suspect has a lawyer.

Officials say the shooter was a “lone wolf,” an unhinged individual acting only for himself — an account of the crime that fits the profile sketched by people who knew Juraj C.

On Friday, however, police officers visited the apartment block where he lived and took video footage from security cameras. Ondrej Szabo, the supervisor for the complex, said that investigators wanted to see if anybody had visited the man’s apartment in the days leading up to the attack. Mr. Szabo said the man never struck him as dangerous and often went for walks hand in hand with his wife. The couple have two children.

Video footage and photographs of the shooter released soon after the attack showed a bearded man whom Mr. Maruniak and other residents of the town, Levice, said they recognized as Juraj C., a local known for his cranky behavior and resentful attitude.

“I was not surprised it was him,” said Maria Cibulova, a member of Rainbow, an area literary club, to which Juraj C. also belonged.

She didn’t like his poetry much. “I’m a romantic and always looking for nice things,” she said, “but he was always writing about ugly, negative things.” When Juraj C. shared his work at bimonthly club meetings, she recalled, other members reacted with more alarm than…

2024-05-18 02:31:53
Post from www.nytimes.com

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