Slovakia's Defense Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Robert Kaliňák announced this Wednesday that the country's Prime Minister Robert Fico, who was the target of an assassination attempt this morning, is still undergoing surgery and in a "very complicated health condition".

"The Prime Minister suffered severe polytrauma after being shot. The surgery has been going on for three and a half hours and the doctors are still fighting for his life", said the official at a press conference at Roosevelt Hospital in Banská Bystrica, where Fico is hospitalized.

Quoted by the local press, Kaliňák also considered that the Slovak leader will be "strong enough to deal with this trauma".

The minister thus denied the information reported by the Slovak television TA3, which indicated that the Prime Minister was "in stable condition and communicating".

Present at the same press conference, Interior Minister Matúš Šutaj Eštok said that this was "the saddest day for democracy in the 31 years of Slovakia's existence".

The investigation into the crime has already begun and "initial information indicates a clear political motivation".

The suspect of having tried to assassinate the Prime Minister was identified, according to the local press, as Juraj C., a 71-year-old man, resident in Levice, about 80 kilometers from Handlova, where the attack took place.

After the attack, the Slovak Prime Minister was placed in a car and later transported by helicopter to Roosevelt Hospital "because it would take too long to reach Bratislava [about 150 kilometers away] due to the need for an urgent procedure", his office said.

The suspect is in custody and a criminal case has been opened for attempted premeditated murder.

He could face a life sentence, since, according to the Slovak Penal Code, a crime of premeditated murder is punishable by a prison sentence of "20 to 25 years". However, if the attack "is directed at a protected person", such as a Prime Minister, the sentence increases to life imprisonment, explains SME.

The assassination attempt has already been condemned by several world leaders who say they are "shocked" by the "barbaric" and "vile" attack.

It should be noted that, since coming to power in 2023, Robert Fico has ended Bratislava's military aid to Ukraine and called for peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow, generating criticism from Ukrainian authorities and their European allies.

More recently, in early April and in a change of tone in relation to the Ukrainian conflict, he defended a peaceful solution that respects the country's "territorial integrity".

[News updated at 19:29]

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