5/15/2024–|Last updated: 5/15/202409:42 PM (Mecca time)
Slovak left-wing lawyer and politician was born in 1964, when Slovakia and Czechia were still a single republic called Czechoslovakia. He held several positions in Slovakia and the European Union, and is the politician who has held the most prime ministership in his country. He was subjected to an assassination attempt on May 15, 2024.
Birth and upbringing
Robert Vitso was born on September 15, 1964 in the town of Hrosovany, Topolcany District, northwestern Czechoslovakia.
He spent his childhood in Hrosovani, and when he was six, his family moved to the town of Topolcany in the same province.
His father was a crane driver for a company, and his mother was a shoe store worker.
He has a brother named Ladislav, who is a construction contractor. And a sister called Lucia Shpadova, who is a lawyer and 14 years younger than him.
Večo dreamed of being a political leader, a sports reporter, or an archaeologist, and he ended up becoming one of the most prominent politicians in Slovakia.
Study and training
He studied primary and secondary school in the country of Topolcany, and obtained high school in 1982.
He then joined the Faculty of Law at Comenius University in the capital, Bratislava, and graduated in 1986, specializing in criminal law. One of his professors at the faculty was Joseph Moravec, who later became prime minister, and he had predicted that his student would be a prominent figure.
After graduating from university, he spent a year of compulsory military service in the army, after which he worked at the Institute of State and Law of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, then an employee at the Ministry of Justice until 1992.
During this period, he completed his doctoral thesis in law, which was on “The Death Penalty in Czechoslovakia.” In 2002, he obtained a professorship in law.
Political and party experience
Vitso joined the Czechoslovak Communist Party in 1986, and after he learned about the “Velvet Revolution” and the fall of the communist regime in 1989, he joined the Democratic Left Party, which succeeded the Communist Party.
He was elected as a member of Parliament from the same party in 1992, and in 1998 he was chosen as Vice-President of the party, but he left it in 1999 and founded the Social Democracy Trend Party, along with other politicians, and has led it since its founding.
From 1994 to 2000, he represented his country in the European Court of Human Rights, and he was also elected to the European Parliament 5 times.
He ran for the presidential elections in 2014 and lost in the second round to his competitor, Andrew Kiska. In the 2023 elections, his party won about 23% of the votes and he was again appointed prime minister.
Positions and responsibilities
- Prime Minister of Slovakia 3 times (2006 to 2010), (2012 to 2018) and began his current term in October 2023.
- Member of the European Parliament for 5 terms.
- He was a member of the Committee on Citizenship, Freedoms and Rights in the European Parliament.
- He was a member of the Justice and Home Affairs Committee of the European Parliament.
- Vice Chairman of the Czechoslovak Communist Party.
- Founder and head of the Social Democratic Trend Party in 1999.
Assassination attempt
On May 15, 2024, Viso was subjected to an assassination attempt. A gunman shot and wounded him, after which he was transferred to a hospital in the city of Handlova in the center of the country, from where he was transferred by helicopter to the city of Banska Bystrica to receive urgent treatment.
Viso was subjected to an assassination attempt after a government meeting held in Handlova, located northeast of the capital, Bratislava.
The TA3 news channel reported that the gunman fired four bullets at Vizzo, hitting him in the abdomen, and the government said he was “in a critical situation.”