Slovak PM Robert Fico has another surgery, condition ‘still very serious’

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico’s condition was on Friday “still very serious” two days after an attempted assassination, his deputy and close ally said, as police raided the suspect’s home.

Fico was hospitalised after the shooting on Wednesday, which happened as the 59-year-old leader was speaking to members of the public after a meeting in the central town of Handlova.

“He was operated on again, he had an almost two-hour-long operation,” deputy prime minister Robert Kalinak told reporters outside the hospital in Banska Bystrica.

Fico had previously undergone a five-hour-long surgery, shortly after being airlifted from the scene of the attack on Wednesday.

“His state is still very serious. I think it would take a couple of days to see the course of the development of his state,” Kalinak added on Friday.

The Banska Bystrica hospital director said Fico remained “conscious” despite being in a “serious” condition.