Shooting leaves Slovakia's PM Robert Fico with permanent health issues

Euronews
·2-min read
Shooting leaves Slovakia's PM Robert Fico with permanent health issues

Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico will have permanent health issues after surviving a shooting attack in May, his deputy PM said.

Robert Kaliňák, who also serves as minister of defence in Fico's government, said Fico's condition was gradually improving but that he would likely have musculoskeletal problems.

"His health is still far from ideal. After a gunshot wound to the abdomen, those organs don't work the way they did when you were 17 or 30. It's still very erratic. As part of his regular rehab, doctors are doing everything they can to make sure he can do his job to his full potential, and we're getting close to that," Kaliňák said.

Fico is expected to make another public appearance in the coming days, Kaliňák added. He didn't specify whether it would be in person or via video.

Robert Fico arrives for the V4 meeting in Prague, February 27, 2024
Robert Fico arrives for the V4 meeting in Prague, February 27, 2024 - Petr David Josek/Copyright 2024 The AP. All rights reserved

That announcement is an apparent improvement on Fico's own health assessment in a video in early June, his first public appearance since the shooting, in which he said, "it will be a small miracle if I return to work in several weeks."

The 59-year-old PM was shot in the abdomen at close range as he greeted supporters following a government meeting in Handlová on 15 May.

Videos showed him approach people gathered at barricades and reach out to shake hands as a man stepped forward, extended his arm and fired five rounds before being tackled and arrested.

Fico underwent a five-hour surgery to treat multiple wounds he suffered in the shooting, followed by another two-hour surgery two days later to remove dead tissue from his gunshot wounds.

In late May, he was airlifted from the hospital in Banská Bystrica to the capital, Bratislava, where he was nursed at home.

Fico has since said he forgave his attacker and felt "no hatred towards the stranger who shot me".

"I will not take any active legal action against him or seek damage compensation. I forgive him and let him sort out what he did and why he did it in his own head," he said.

Barely a week after the shooting, all 130 MPs in attendance in the Slovak parliament passed a resolution for all political parties, civic organisations and media to respect election results and refrain from spreading hatred against the democratically elected government after public figures blamed a culture of toxicity for the attempt on Fico's life.

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