A court near Bratislava rules that the man accused of attempted murder will remain in custody.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico remained in hospital in “serious condition” as a court ruled that the man accused of the attempted murder will remain in custody.
On Saturday, Health Minister Zuzana Dolinkova said a two-hour surgery on Fico the day before to remove dead tissue from multiple gunshot wounds “contributed to a positive prognosis.”
But the prime minister is unlikely to be transferred from the Banska Bystrica hospital to the capital Bratislava in the coming days as he remains in “serious condition,” said Deputy Prime Minister Robert Kalinak, who is also defense minister.
Fico, 59, was shot five times Wednesday as he left a government meeting and greeted people in the central town of Handlova.
Meanwhile, a court in Pezinok, northeast of Bratislava, ruled on Saturday that the suspect will remain in pretrial detention, a spokesman said.
The prosecutor had requested that the suspect, reportedly a 71-year-old former mall security guard and author of three poetry collections, be taken into custody after being charged with attempted premeditated murder.
“If the shot had gone a few centimeters higher, it would have hit the prime minister's liver,” Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok told broadcaster TA3.
Prosecutors had previously asked police not to publicly identify the suspect or reveal other information about the case, but local media reported few details.
The court was guarded by officers wearing balaclavas and carrying rifles. The media was not allowed to enter.
On Friday, police took the suspect to his home in the town of Levice and confiscated a computer and some documents, according to Slovak broadcaster Markiza.
“Political blame game”
The assassination attempt shocked the European Union and NATO member country of 5.4 million people, which had already been deeply divided politically for years.
Prosecutors said the attacker acted alone, but Fico's supporters say the opposition is partly to blame for stoking political tensions.
Kalinak, Fico's closest ally, on Friday criticized opposition politicians and “select media outlets” for labeling the prime minister as a criminal, a dictator or a servant of Russian President Vladimir Putin before the attack.
“All these lies are the main reason why Robert Fico is fighting for his life today,” he said in an emotional message posted on the website of his political party, Smer.
He also accused opposition parties and the media of stoking acrimony by encouraging protests against government policies.
Slovak opposition party leader Michal Simecka, who described the shooting as an attack on democracy, said Friday that he, his wife and son had received death threats.
Outgoing pro-Western president Zuzana Caputova and her successor Peter Pellegrini, another Fico ally who will take office in June, have called on their fellow Slovaks to refrain from “confrontations.”
They called a meeting of all parliamentary party leaders for Tuesday in a bid to show unity after the attack.
