At least two Slovak government ministers have responded to an attack on 70-year-old journalist Peter Schutz by criticizing his publications, Politico reports.
The attack on Slovak political commentator Schutz took place on the afternoon of the 10th of January in a restroom at a busy shopping mall in Košice. The attacker has not been identified, and Schutz required hospital treatment, including surgery to repair a fractured femur in the attack.
Schutz has been a contributing writer for the newspaper Sme since the 1990s and has appeared regularly on political talk shows. He has been highly critical of the current government, which is led by the Eurosceptic Robert Fico, now in his fourth term.
Slovakia’s Interior Minister Matúš Šutaj Eštok condemned the violence in general, but noted that it should be taken into account that the public space in Slovakia has long been filled with polarizing and dehumanizing statements that increase tension in society: “Not even an alleged attack on a commentator can diminish his responsibility for words that helped inflame emotions and divide the public.” Meanwhile, Environment Minister Tomáš Taraba wrote on social media that Schutz is widely known for his “extremely aggressive statements about people.” Taraba, who was elected in 2020 from a far-right party, added that such violent attacks should be condemned, even if they affect people who should be dealt with “hands of the law.” The minister wrote that
the Slovak justice system is not working, and that journalists are pretending to be above the law.
The Košice police said they were actively and intensively investigating the attack on Schutz. A police spokeswoman said the journalist was found on the toilet floor by a visitor to a shopping mall.
Slovakia has experience with attacks on media representatives. The most shocking were the murders of investigative journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée in 2018. At that time, the government, which was also led by Fico, had to resign. Fico himself was seriously injured in a shooting in May 2024, and he partly blamed the media for the attack, and after recovering, said that journalists were pursuing politicians from morning to night like bloodthirsty bastards.
State Prosecutor General Maroš Žilinka wrote on Facebook that physical attacks on another person cannot be a way to release the tension built up in society. Roman Krpelan, editor-in-chief of Sme, wrote that he hopes that the attack on Schutz is not related to his professional activities.
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