Slovakia PM still in serious condition after assassination attempt

While police searched the suspect’s residence on Friday, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico’s condition was described as “still very serious” by his deputy and close ally, two days after an attempted assassination.

Following a gathering in the central town of Handlova, Fico, 59, was speaking to the public when he was shot on Wednesday. Fico was taken to the hospital.

“He was operated on again, he had an almost two-hour-long operation,” deputy prime minister Robert Kalinak told reporters outside the hospital in Banska Bystrica.

Fico had previously had surgery, lasting five hours, soon after he was taken by air from the attack scene on Wednesday.

“His state is still very serious. I think it would take a couple of days to see the course of the development of his state,” Kalinak added on Friday.

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Fico was in a “serious” state, but the director of the hospital in Banska Bystrica said that he was still “conscious”.

Local media earlier on Friday said that the guy accused of the shooting had had his residence searched by Slovak police.

Officers brought along the alleged gunman, who was wearing a bulletproof vest and helmet, to the apartment he shared with his wife in the western town of Levice, Markiza TV footage showed.

“Police stayed in the apartment for several hours… They took the computer and documents out of the apartment,” the private broadcaster said.

Although the suspect’s identity has not been released by the police, the media has labeled him as writer Juraj Cintula, 71.

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In what the authorities have described as an attack with political motivation, he was charged on Thursday with attempted murder with premeditation.

“This is a lone wolf whose actions were accelerated after the presidential election since he was dissatisfied with its outcome,” Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok said.

In the weeks leading up to the European Parliament elections, the politically divided country is experiencing increased levels of fear and instability due to the incident.

Authorities made a connection to the nation’s political climate, which has been tarnished by misinformation and attacks on social media in the wake of recent election campaigns.

Peter Pellegrini, the newly elected president of Slovakia, encouraged the political parties on Wednesday to halt or scale back their campaigning ahead of the EU vote. Pellegrini won the election in April.

The largest opposition party declared as much, along with the moderate Progressive Slovakia and others.

In October, Fico, a seasoned politician and four-time premier, took power again.

Since then, he has said several things that have damaged Slovakia’s relationship with its neighbor, Ukraine, after casting doubt on the nation’s sovereignty.

Following his election, Slovakia ceased supplying arms to Ukraine, which Russia invaded in 2022.