The life of the Slovak Prime Minister, the left-wing nationalist Robert Fico, is now out of danger but the patient needs time to recover, since he is still serious, according to the Deputy Prime Minister, Robert Kalinak, this Sunday in front of the hospital where he was admitted. in serious condition on Wednesday after being shot four times.
“We are all a little calmer,” Kalinak said at a news conference outside the hospital center in the city of Banska Bystrica, in central Slovakia.
The prime minister, 59, was the target of an assassination attempt on Wednesday in an attack that highlighted the high political and social polarization in the Central European country of 5.4 million inhabitants.
Kalinak told reporters that Fico’s condition was still too serious to consider transferring him to the capital’s hospital. But for now the worst fears had disappeared. “We were saying we wanted to get closer to a positive prognosis, so I think we are one step closer to that,” he added. “The prime minister has moved away from the state in which his life was in danger, but his is still serious and requires intensive care,” he clarified.
The shooting was the first major assassination attempt on a European political leader in more than 20 years and has drawn international condemnation. Political analysts and lawmakers say it has exposed an increasingly febrile and polarized political climate both in Slovakia and across Europe.
Slovakia’s Specialized Criminal Court ruled on Saturday that the suspect, identified by prosecutors as Juraj Cintula, would remain in custody after being charged with attempted murder.
Local media say the suspect is a 71-year-old former mall security guard who is the author of three books of poetry and who actively displayed his political views on social media.
