Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico was badly injured after being shot several times in Handlova on Wednesday.
Fico was still conscious when he arrived at Handlova hospital where he was being treated for gunshot wounds. After the treatment his vital signs was normalised.
According to the deputy prime minister Tomas Taraba, Fico is no longer considered to be in critical condition. Taraba said that Fico’s surgery had gone “well”. The minister had earlier stated that Fico was “fighting for his life” following an attack that left him critically injured in the little hamlet of Handlova.
At the scene of the incident, a suspect was taken into custody. It was an attempt at assassination with political motivation, according to Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estoka.
Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday from outside the hospital where Fico was receiving treatment, Defence Minister Robert Kalinak stated that after the gunshot, Fico was taken to the hospital and spent many hours in surgery “fighting for his life”.
Since then, the prime minister’s condition has not received an official update; nevertheless, his deputy has informed the BBC’s Newshour programme that Fico is “not in [a] life-threatening situation at this moment. As far as I know, the operation went well and I guess that at the end he will survive,” said Taraba.
According to Taraba, the prime minister was shot “from very close,” with one bullet passing through his stomach and the other hitting his joint.
The supposed suspect has not yet been named by the police. Unverified local media sources claim that he was a political activist and writer who was 71 years old. There is a video circulating on Slovak media that seems to show the suspect.
