The Slovak Minister of Health announced on Saturday that the diagnosis regarding the health condition of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico after the assassination attempt was “positive,” while the suspect appeared before the court.
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Mr. Fico has been hospitalized since Wednesday, after a sniper shot him four times, including in the abdomen.
He underwent a five-hour surgery on Wednesday and a two-hour operation on Friday, both at a hospital in the town of Banska Bystrica in central Slovakia.
Minister Zuzana Dolinkova told the press, “The surgical intervention that took place yesterday, which lasted two hours, contributed to a positive diagnosis of the Prime Minister’s health condition.”
She added, “The Prime Minister’s health condition is stable, but still serious.”
“If the shot had gone a few centimeters higher, it would have hit the prime minister's liver,” Interior Minister Matos Sutaj Istok told TA3 TV.
Defense Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Robert Kalinac, Mr. Fico's closest political ally, said the prime minister was aware of the matter.
“I don't think he can be transferred to Bratislava in the next few days, because his condition is still serious,” he told reporters.
Also in the morning, the attempted murder suspect arrived at the Pezinok Criminal Court in northeastern Bratislava, which is expected to order his continued pretrial detention.
The man, identified by Slovak media as 71-year-old poet Juraj Sintola, fired five shots at Fiko on Wednesday, hitting him four times.
On Friday, the Public Prosecutor requested an extension of the suspect’s detention after he was charged with attempted premeditated murder.
The shooting occurred while Fico was welcoming his supporters after a government meeting in the town of Handlova in central Slovakia.
Fico has been in office since his centrist populist party, Smer-SD, won legislative elections last fall.
All these lies
Mr. Fico is serving his fourth term as prime minister after campaigning on peace proposals between Russia and Ukraine, Slovakia's neighbor, and halting military aid to Kiev, which his government later did.
The assassination attempt deeply shocked this country of 5.4 million people, a member of the European Union and NATO, which has already suffered from severe political division for years.
The outgoing pro-Western president, Zuzana Caputova, and her successor, Peter Pellegrini, a Fico ally who will take office in June, called on their fellow Slovak citizens to refrain from any “confrontation” after the shooting.
They called a meeting of all parliamentary party leaders on Tuesday to show unity in the wake of the attack.
However, Mr. Kalinac suggested on Saturday that Smer-SD would not participate in the meeting.
They invited political party leaders and our president [du parti] “It's in the hands of doctors,” he said.
Mr. Kalinak added that he would contact Mr.I Caputova on this topic, stressing that Slovakia needs “reconciliation and peace.”
Some Slovak politicians had previously made accusations against their opponents, accusing them of being behind the attack.
Mr. Kalinac on Friday criticized opposition politicians and some media outlets for describing Mr. Fico, before the attack, as a criminal, a dictator or a servant of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“All these lies are the main reason why Robert Fico is fighting for his life today,” he said in a message posted on the Smer-SD website.
