Slovak PM Fico in ‘serious condition’ as shooting suspect appears in court

Court near Bratislava is considering the prosecutor’s request for pre-trial detention of the man accused in the assassination attempt.

Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico remained in hospital in “serious condition” as the man accused of attempted murder faced his first court appearance near the capital.

On Saturday, Minister of Health Zuzana Dolinkova said a two-hour surgery on Fico the previous day to remove dead tissue from multiple gunshot wounds “contributed to a positive prognosis”.

But it was unlikely that the prime minister will be transferred from the hospital in Banska Bystrica to Bratislava in the coming days as he remains in “serious condition”, said Deputy Prime Minister Robert Kalinak, who is also the defence minister.

Fico, 59, was shot five times on Wednesday as he was leaving a government meeting and greeting people in the central town of Handlova.

Meanwhile, a court in Pezinok, northeast of Bratislava, was on Saturday considering a prosecutor’s request that the suspect – reportedly a 71-year-old former security guard at a shopping mall and the author of three collections of poetry – be placed in detention after he had been charged with a premeditated attempted murder.