Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico is out of danger after Wednesday’s attack. This is what Deputy Prime Minister Robert Kalinak and the deputy head of the clinic that is treating Fico, Milan Urbani, told the TASR news agency on Sunday. Urbani told journalists: “Based on the advice of the medical council this morning, we can determine that the patient is currently outside of a life-threatening state. However, his condition remains very serious and he will need a long time and rest to recover.”
The Prime Minister is currently in a hospital in the regional capital Banska Bystrica. The 59-year-old left-wing populist head of government was operated on there for a second time on Friday. Kalinak, who is also Defense Minister, added that a transfer of the 59-year-old Fico to a hospital in the capital Bratislava would not be possible in the near future and therefore not planned. Kalinak continued: “We are all convinced that his physical condition is so strong that we can expect further recovery day by day, even if the road to recovery will take several weeks.”
Fico was the victim of an assassination attempt on Wednesday when a man shot him from close range after a government meeting in the small town of Handlová. The perpetrator’s motive was “clearly political,” Interior Minister Matúš Šutaj Eštok said shortly after the crime based on initial police interviews.
The 71-year-old suspected assassin Juraj C. was brought to the special criminal court in the town of Pezinok for questioning under strict security precautions on Saturday. The court then ordered that he be remanded in custody. The reason for this is the risk of escape and further acts of violence. As court spokeswoman Katarina Kudjakova told the German Press Agency, the accused can appeal the decision.
The media had previously reported, citing police information, that the perpetrator had already pleaded guilty during police interrogation after the crime. The public prosecutor’s office made the application for pre-trial detention. The attacker was arrested immediately after the crime and has been in police custody ever since.