On Sunday, the Slovak government revealed the health condition of Prime Minister Robert Fico, days after he was shot dead in an assassination attempt on Wednesday.
Defense Minister Robert Kalinac announced that Fico was out of danger.
Fico has been in hospital since Wednesday when he was shot four times in an assassination attempt while greeting supporters after a government session in the city of Handelova in the center of the country.
Kalinac, who also holds the position of Deputy Prime Minister, said: “There is no longer an immediate threat to Fico’s life, but the latter’s condition “remains serious and requires intensive care.”
On Wednesday, Fico underwent a five-hour surgery, and he underwent a second surgery on Friday, which lasted two hours.
“We can consider that his condition is stable with a positive diagnosis,” Kalinac said in front of Banska Bystrica Hospital, where Fiko is lying. “We all feel more comfortable,” he added.
He indicated that the Prime Minister will remain in the hospital at the present time.
According to the Slovak media, the shooter was the 71-year-old poet Juraj Sintola. He was charged with attempted premeditated murder, and a special criminal court ordered him to be placed in pretrial detention in preparation for his trial.
Interior Minister Matos Sutai Istok said in television statements, “If the shot had come a few centimeters higher, it would have hit the prime minister’s liver.”
Kalinac said that the government will continue its work in Fico’s absence “according to the program he set,” including two meetings that will be held next week.
Fico took office after his centrist populist SMER party won general elections last fall.
He is assuming the presidency of the government for a fourth term after focusing his electoral campaign on peace proposals between Russia and Ukraine, the country neighboring Slovakia, and on stopping military aid to Kiev, which is what his government did following his recent electoral victory.
The assassination attempt caused great shock in the country, which has a population of 5.4 million and is a member of the European Union and NATO.
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