Slovakia’s prime minister, Robert Fico, underwent a two-hour operation on Friday that has increased hopes for his recovery, said a deputy prime minister.
Deputy prime minister Robert Kaliňák also said any decision to transfer Fico back to the capital Bratislava from the central city of Banská Bystrica where he is being treated would only be taken when there had been further improvement in his condition.
“It will take several more days for us to know definitively which way it is going,” Kaliňák told reporters outside the Banská Bystrica hospital. “I think the surgery today... will allow us to move closer to a positive prognosis,” he added.
“I am in a better mood because I see there is progress. It is still very serious but for me hopeful,” Kaliňák continued.
Miriam Lapuníková, director of the hospital treating Fico, said he was conscious and stable in the intensive care unit after the operation, which removed dead tissue from his wounds. Fico also underwent hours of surgery on Wednesday soon after being shot five times at close range.
On Thursday, Slovakia’s President-elect Peter Pellegrini, a close ally of Fico, paid a brief visit to the hospital and said Fico had been able to speak a little.
The country’s police have charged a man with attempted murder.
Local news media say he is a 71-year-old former security guard at a shopping mall and the author of three collections of poetry. There has been no official confirmation of his identity.
Police have conducted an hours-long search of the suspect’s home in the central town of Levice with him present, according to TV Markíza. He was wearing a bulletproof vest and helmet and carried a plastic bag and other items.
Armed police, also wearing bullet-proof vests, patrolled outside his home.
The Wednesday shooting was the first major assassination attempt on a European political leader for 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.
“It will take several more days for us to know definitively which way it is going,” Kaliňák told reporters outside the Banská Bystrica hospital. “I think the surgery today... will allow us to move closer to a positive prognosis,” he added.
“I am in a better mood because I see there is progress. It is still very serious but for me hopeful,” Kaliňák continued.
Miriam Lapuníková, director of the hospital treating Fico, said he was conscious and stable in the intensive care unit after the operation, which removed dead tissue from his wounds. Fico also underwent hours of surgery on Wednesday soon after being shot five times at close range.
On Thursday, Slovakia’s President-elect Peter Pellegrini, a close ally of Fico, paid a brief visit to the hospital and said Fico had been able to speak a little.
The country’s police have charged a man with attempted murder.
Local news media say he is a 71-year-old former security guard at a shopping mall and the author of three collections of poetry. There has been no official confirmation of his identity.
Police have conducted an hours-long search of the suspect’s home in the central town of Levice with him present, according to TV Markíza. He was wearing a bulletproof vest and helmet and carried a plastic bag and other items.
Armed police, also wearing bullet-proof vests, patrolled outside his home.
The Wednesday shooting was the first major assassination attempt on a European political leader for 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.
Source: Reuters, TVP World
