BRATISLAVA: Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico was in a “stable” but “serious” condition, his deputy said on Wednesday, a week after he was shot four times in an assassination attempt that shook the deeply polarized country.
The Slovak prime minister was shot and critically wounded as he greeted supporters in the central town of Handlova. Fico underwent two long surgeries in a hospital in the central city of Banska Bystrica, where he remains.
Deputy Prime Minister Robert Kalinak told reporters that his condition was stable in the morning, AFP reported.
His condition is serious, the injuries are complicated. Transportation is definitely out of the question at this time, said Kalinak, Fico’s closest political ally in the eastern European nation.
Hospital Statement on Prime Minister’s Condition
The Banska Bystrica hospital gave a similar assessment in its daily update on the prime minister.
The hospital authorities said on social media that the patient’s condition is serious but currently stable.
The suspect, identified by Slovak media as 71-year-old poet Juraj Cintula, has been charged with premeditated attempted murder and was remanded in custody at a hearing on Saturday.
On Sunday, the interior minister said police were looking into the possibility that Cintula may not have acted alone.
Matus Sutaj Estok said that one version is that the culprit was part of a group of people who encouraged each other to commit the crime.
Citing intelligence reports, Sutaj Estok said someone had deleted the gunman’s Facebook history and communication while he was detained.
But the Slovak media regulatory agency said Facebook owner Meta informed the government that it had deleted the suspect’s account.
Meta informed us that in accordance with the crisis protocol they put in place following the attack, they erased the attacker’s Facebook account, the Council for Media Services said.
