BANSKA BYSTRICA -Reuters: Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico’s condition has stabilised and he is no longer in “life-threatening condition” after surviving an assassination attempt on Wednesday, said the country’s Deputy PM and Environment Minister Tomas Taraba.
“Fortunately as far as I know the operation went well […] and I guess in the end he will survive […] he’s not in a life-threatening situation at this moment,” Taraba told the BBC.
Fico, 59, survived an assassination attempt and was left in critical condition and had to go through surgery after being shot five times while leaving a government meeting a day earlier.
As per the Deputy PM, one bullet went through Fico’s stomach and a second hit a joint.
The shooting in the central Slovak town of Handlova, which Slovak media said was carried out by a 71-year-old man, stunned the small central European nation and drew international condemnation.
After the attack, Fico was rushed to a hospital in Handlova where he had been chairing a government meeting. He was then transported by helicopter to the regional capital Banska Bystrica for urgent treatment, it said, adding that his condition was too serious for him to be taken to Bratislava.
Security officials detain a person after the shooting of Slovak PM Robert Fico in Handlova, Slovakia on May 15. 2024. — Reuters
A Reuters witness heard shots as Fico exited a building to shake hands with a crowd of people who had been waiting to greet him. Police then wrestled a man to the ground.
Slovak news media reported the shooter was a former security guard at a shopping mall, an author of three collections of poetry and a member of the Slovak Society of Writers.
