Slovak PM's Recovery From Assassination Attempt Will be ‘Extremely Long’

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico's recovery from gunshot wounds to the abdomen will be ‘extremely long,’ Deputy Prime Minister Robert Kalinak said on Wednesday, two weeks after the assassination attempt.

‘The prime minister's recovery is finally on the right track,’ he told reporters. 

‘This recovery will be extremely long, as his injuries are very serious...’, the deputy prime minister added.

Jan Richter, chairman of the Smer parliamentary club, also commented on the prime minister's health over the weekend. 

‘The extent of the injuries was such that it would probably be irresponsible to expect a very quick return,’ he said.

Fico has remained hospitalised since he was shot several times on 15 May as he greeted supporters after a cabinet meeting held under emergency rule in the central city of Gandlovje.

The accused, 71-year-old poet Juraj Sintula, was charged with premeditated attempted murder and taken into custody. 

Fico underwent two surgeries, lasting several hours, at a hospital in the central city of Banska Bystrica, which on Wednesday described his condition as ‘satisfactory’.

Government adviser Eric Kalinak, who was present at the time of the shooting, said that only ‘millimetres’ saved Fico from fatal gunshot wounds.