Slovak Prime Minister Fico’s health condition serious but improving after attack

Brussels – Still in serious condition but no longer life-threatening: The prime minister of Slovakia, Robert Fico, is still in intensive care at the hospital in Banská Bystrica after the attack suffered on May 15. The premier’s condition does not yet permit his transfer to Bratislava, the country’s capital, but Robert Kaliňák, minister of health, said at a press conference that Fico’s health is improving.

While the situation for Fico remains serious, it seems that the worst is over, as is also evident from the words of Robert Kaliňák: “We all feel a bit more relaxed now.” The surgeries performed by medical personnel—the first of more than five hours after he arrived at the hospital and the second that took place on Friday the 18th—were successful and stabilized Fico’s condition. The assassination attempt on the Slovak prime minister was the first major assassination attempt on a European political leader in more than 20 years since the 2003 assassination of Serbia’s Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić.

The attacker, Juraj Cintula, a 71-year-old poet and former security guard, was arrested by the police immediately after the shooting. According to local media, Cintula opposed Fico’s policies but has always been considered a pacifist fighting against violence, so much so that in 2016, he advocated for the birth of a nonviolent movement. Law enforcement agencies are investigating on the attack to verify that Cintula acted alone and was not aided. What made Slovak authorities suspicious was the deletion of the history from the phone after police had already stopped the attacker.