Slovak PM's condition stable after assassination attempt, says deputy PM

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico's life is no longer in danger following an assassination attempt, Deputy Prime Minister Robert Kalinak announced on Sunday.

Fico has been hospitalized since Wednesday after being shot four times by a lone gunman, with one of the shots hitting him in the abdomen.

"He has emerged from the immediate threat to his life, but his condition remains serious and he requires intensive care," Kalinak, Fico's closest political ally, told reporters.

Fico underwent a five-hour surgery on Wednesday, followed by another surgery on Friday, both performed at a hospital in the central city of Banska Bystrica.

"We can consider his condition stable with a positive prognosis," Kalinak stated outside the hospital, adding, "We all feel a bit more relaxed now."

Kalinak noted that Fico would remain at the Banska Bystrica hospital for the time being, reported AFP.

The suspected gunman, identified by Slovak media as 71-year-old poet Juraj Cintula, has been charged with attempted premeditated murder and was placed in pre-trial detention by a special penal court on Saturday.

Fico was shot while walking to greet supporters after a government meeting in the central mining town of Handlova.

Kalinak previously mentioned that Fico suffered four gunshot wounds: two light, one medium, and one serious.

Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok commented that one of the shots "went just a few centimetres higher, it would have hit the prime minister's liver."

The 59-year-old Fico assumed office in October after his centrist populist Smer party won a general election. He is currently serving his fourth term as prime minister, having campaigned on proposals for peace between Russia and Slovakia's neighbor Ukraine and to halt military aid to Kyiv, which his government has implemented.

Kalinak assured that the government would continue to operate without Fico "according to the programme he has outlined," including two meetings scheduled for next week.

The assassination attempt has deeply shocked the EU and NATO member country of 5.4 million people, which has been sharply divided over politics for years.