The links between Juraj Cintula, the poet and amateur writer indicated as the author who shot Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico yesterday afternoon, and the far right would have started in the literary circles frequented by the 71 year old. According to the Czech newspaper “Denik N”, in fact, Cintula was a member of the Duha Literary Club, which usually meets in the Tekovska library, in Levice. The director of the library, Vlasta Kollarova, explained that in the past she helped the alleged perpetrator with the presentation of a book. The woman described Cintula as a poet and long-time member of the literary club, a normal person: “he was rebellious when young, but not aggressive”. In 2022, one of the 23 members of the club ran for the post of Nitra County MP for the Slovak People's Party of Andrei Hlinka, a nationalist formation inspired by the historic "Hlinka Slovak People's Party", active between the end of the 1930s and the end of the Second World War in Czechoslovakia and of clear clerical-fascist and nationalist inspiration.
The man he attacked Robert FicoFurthermore, in the past
he had had contacts with the pro-Russian group Slovenský Branci (Slovak Conscripts), according to what was reported by the Hungarian investigative journalist Szabolcs Panyi. In 2016, Slovak Conscripts shared a photo on Facebook that included the attacker. In the message attached to the photo,
Cintula describes what attracted him to this pro-Russian group at that moment. As the first motivation he cites "the ability to act without submitting to the order of the State", as the second "disinterested zeal". According to Cintula, “hundreds of thousands of migrants” are arriving in Europe and, in this context, the Conscripts want to protect Slovakia from their influence, acting as true “patriots”. In another Facebook message, Cintula wrote that the state cannot protect its citizens, and therefore citizens themselves should protect public space before it is "filled with criminal elements."
A few months later, Juraj Cintula he founded a party called Hnutie proti nasiliu (Movement against violence). The Slovak Conscripts' movement announced the end of its activity in the autumn of 2022 but are known for having advocated
pro-Russian propaganda positions for years. The movement, in fact,
defended the figure of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was often critical of the West, the European Union, and had mobilized against the reception of migrants, often attacking the media and non-governmental organizations.
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