The Prime Minister of Slovakia underwent another operation and his condition is serious

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Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense of Slovakia Robert Kalinak speaks during a press briefing in front of the University Hospital. FD Roosevelt, where Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who was shot and wounded on May 15, is being treated in Banská Bystrica, central Slovakia, on Friday, May 17, 2024. Slovakia’s populist Prime Minister Robert Fico was shot multiple times and seriously wounded on Wednesday, but his deputy prime minister he expressed faith that Fico would survive. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) — Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has undergone another surgery two days after being shot multiple times and remains in serious condition, officials said Friday.

Fico, 59, was attacked as he greeted supporters after a government meeting in Handlova, a former mining town. The assault suspect was arrested.

Miriam Lapunikova, director of the FD Roosevelt University Hospital in Banská Bystrica, where Fico was taken by helicopter after he was shot, said Fico underwent a CT scan and is currently conscious and stable in the intensive care unit. She described his condition as “very serious.”

She said the surgery removed dead tissue that remained in Fico’s body.

“I think it will take a few more days before we know for sure the direction of further development,” Robert Kaliniak, Minister of Defense and Deputy Prime Minister, told reporters at the hospital.

Kaliniak, however, emphasized that the government continues to work.

“The ministries are carrying out all their duties, nothing is being frozen or put on hold, the country is moving on,” he told reporters. “The condition is stable and today the patient’s condition is also stable.”

FICO has long caused divisions in Slovakia and beyond. His return to power last year on a pro-Russian, anti-American platform raised concerns among other European Union and NATO members that he would abandon his country’s pro-Western course, particularly on Ukraine.

On Friday, the man accused of attempting to assassinate Fico was escorted by police to his home. Local media reported that it was part of a search for evidence.

Slovak television station Markiza showed footage on Friday morning of the suspect being taken to his home in Levice and reported that police had confiscated a computer and some documents. The police did not comment on this case.

Prosecutors advised police not to publicly reveal the suspect’s identity or other details of the case. The suspect’s detention will be considered during a Saturday hearing at the Slovak Specialized Criminal Court in Pezinok, near the capital Bratislava.

Unconfirmed media reports suggest he was a 71-year-old retiree known as an amateur poet who may have previously worked as a security guard at a shopping mall in the southwest of the country.

Government authorities on Thursday provided details matching the description. They said the suspect did not belong to any political group, although the attack itself was politically motivated.

The Slovak president’s office announced on Friday that it is working on organizing a meeting of the leaders of all parliamentary parties on Tuesday. Outgoing President Zuzana Caputova announced the plan with President-elect Peter Pellegrini, who replaces her, in mid-June in an attempt to reduce social tensions in the country.

At the beginning of the Russian invasion, Slovakia was one of Ukraine’s staunchest supporters, but Fico halted arms shipments to Ukraine after returning to power, serving as prime minister for the fourth time.

Fico’s government also made efforts to overhaul public broadcasting – which critics say would give the government full control over public broadcasting. This, combined with his plans to amend the criminal code to eliminate a special anti-graft prosecutor, has raised concerns among opponents that Fico will lead Slovakia down a more autocratic path.

Thousands of demonstrators have repeatedly gathered in the capital and across the country of 5.4 million to protest his policies.

Last month, Fico said on Facebook that he believed rising tensions in the country could lead to the murders of politicians, and blamed the media for stoking tensions.

Before Fico returned to power last year, many of his political and business associates were the subject of police investigations, and dozens faced charges.

His penal reform plan would eliminate the office of special prosecutor dealing with organized crime, corruption and extremism.