Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico walks during the European Council summit at the EU headquarters in Brussels, on April 18, 2024.
Kenzo Tribouillard | Afp | Getty Images
Slovakia’s populist Prime Minister Robert Fico is in a stable but “very serious” condition following surgery after an assassination attempt, a health official said Thursday.
“His condition stabilized, but it is truly very serious, and therefore he will actually be in the intensive care unit on the premises of the general hospital, where he will be cared for by the team and the entire team of doctors that he will need,” Miriam Lapunikova, director of the F.D. Roosevelt University Hospital in Banska Bystrica where Fico is under care, said Thursday, according to a Reuters video.
She added that Fico underwent a five-hour surgery conducted by two medical teams. He suffered “multiple gunshot wounds, the consequences of which will affect his recovery,” she said.
Slovakian Deputy Prime Minister Tomas Taraba had also indicated that Fico was no longer in a life-threatening condition.
“Fortunately, as far as I know, the operation went well, and I guess that at the end he will survive,” Taraba told BBC Newshour. “At this moment, the state of the operation should be that he’s not in a life-threatening situation.”
CNBC has reached out to Slovakia’s Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Fico, 59, was gravely wounded on Wednesday after being shot multiple times following a political event in the Slovak town of Handlova. He was transported by helicopter to a nearby hospital in Banska Bystrica for emergency treatment, according to his official Facebook page.
“This was a politically motivated attempt, and it took place shortly after the presidential election,” Slovakian Minister of the Interior Matúš Šutaj Eštok said at a press briefing, according to translated video footage carried by Sky News.
A suspect has been detained, Slovakian President Zuzana Caputova said Wednesday in a social media update.
“The shooting of the prime minister is first and foremost an attack against an attack on a human being – but it’s also an attack on democracy,” she said in an officially translated video. “The police have arrested the perpetrator and will provide further information when possible.”
Fico has served as prime minister of Slovakia for around 10 years across three mandates, heading the Smer (Direction) party. He most recently assumed the post following parliamentary elections in 2023 and in October pledged to stop military support for Ukraine and to no longer endorse further sanctions against Russia, Reuters reported.
His administration has also proposed a contensious overhaul and state takeover of public broadcaster RTVS, and a highly controversial amendment to the country’s penal code that would, among other measures, eliminate the special prosecutors’ office that oversees serious crimes.