- author, Gianluca Avanina
- role, bbc news
-
Slovakia's interior minister said the man suspected of attempting to assassinate Prime Minister Roberto Fico may not have been acting alone.
Matus Stagi Estoque told reporters on Sunday that he was investigating the possibility that Wednesday's attack was not the work of a “lone wolf” as previously believed.
After several hours of surgery, Fico's life was no longer in danger, but his aide said earlier that the 59-year-old still required intensive care.
On Saturday, a man charged with attempted murder was remanded in custody pending trial.
The official name of the alleged assailant has not been released, but he has been widely identified in Slovak media reports as 71-year-old Juraj Cintura from the town of Levice.
Local media describe him as a poet who has been involved in political groups with a variety of ideologies.
At a press conference on Sunday, Estoque said he would set up an investigation team and also look into whether the suspects were “operating in specific groups that may have been instigating and supporting each other.”
He said this was based on information from intelligence agencies, including that the suspect's Facebook and communications history were deleted after he was taken into custody two hours after the attack.
The day after the assassination attempt, Estoque told a news conference that the suspect had acted alone and had previously participated in anti-government demonstrations.
Earlier, Deputy Prime Minister Robert Kalinak said Mr Fico's life was no longer in danger.
Kalinak told reporters that his condition still required intensive care, but that “at least for now the worst of what we feared has passed.”
“His condition is stable and the prognosis is considered good,” he said outside the hospital where Fico was being treated in Banska Bystrica, adding: “We are all a little bit depressed now. “I feel relaxed,” he said.
He added that Fico will remain at Banska Bystrica for the time being, but that a transfer in the near future is not possible due to his health.
The prime minister was shot at close range as he greeted supporters after a government meeting in the small town of Handlova.
Interior Minister Matusz Stasi Estok said the bullet “would have hit the prime minister's liver if it had flown a few centimeters higher.”
This attack had a huge impact on Slovakia. On Thursday, outgoing Slovak President Zuzana Caputova appealed for calm and invited all party leaders to a meeting to discuss political tensions.
Fico returned to power in Slovakia after elections last September as leader of the populist-nationalist coalition.
Fico was then forced to resign amid mass protests.
His re-election rests on a platform that includes pledges to end military aid to Kiev and veto Ukraine's NATO ambitions, as well as other talks more reminiscent of Moscow than Brussels. It was a revival.
