Slovak PM 'able to speak' after shooting, suspected gunman charged

Banska Bystrica: Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico is able to speak Thursday but is still in a difficult condition a day after his shooting, officia...

Banska Bystrica: Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico is able to speak Thursday but is still in a "difficult condition" a day after his shooting, officials said, as police charged a suspect in the attack they said was politically motivated.

President-elect Peter Pellegrini briefed journalists a day after the shooting, which has prompted concern of further violence in the politically polarised nation just weeks before European parliament elections.

"He is able to speak but only a few sentences and then he is really, really tired... The situation is very critical," Pellegrini said outside the hospital in the central town of Banska Bystrica.

"The doctors asked me to make a really very short visit...," he stressed. "I told him that we stand behind him."

But he added that "very difficult hours and days" lay ahead for Fico.