Slovakia PM Fico stable after surgery but condition 'very serious'

BANSKA BYSTRICA, Slovakia (Reuters): Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico was in a "very serious" but stable condition on Thursday, a hospital official said, after he was shot five times in an assassination attempt that has laid bare deep political divisions in the country.

The shooting was the first major assassination attempt on a European political leader for more than 20 years, and spurred international condemnation, with political analysts and lawmakers saying it was indicative of an increasingly febrile and polarised political climate across the continent.

News website tvnoviny.sk reported on Thursday that police had charged the suspect with attempted murder and that he could face from 25 years to life imprisonment.

Slovakia will convene a state security council meeting and the cabinet will also meet from 11:00 a.m. (0900 GMT) on Thursday, the government office said.

Miriam Lapunikova, director of the F.D. Roosevelt University Hospital in Banska Bystrica where Fico is admitted, said the prime minister had undergone five hours of surgery with two teams to treat multiple gunshot wounds.

"At this point his condition is stabilised but is truly very serious, he will be in the intensive care unit," she told reporters.

The suspect shot Fico, 59, while the prime minister was greeting supporters in the street after chairing a government meeting in the central Slovak town of Handlova.

Slovak news media reported that the 71-year-old gunman was a former security guard at a shopping mall, the author of three collections of poetry and a member of the Slovak Society of Writers. News outlet Aktuality.sk cited the suspect's son as saying his father was the legal holder of a gun licence.

Riots in the past few days have led to the deaths of several indigenous Kanak people, and a police official, who died from a gunshot wound.

Deputy Prime Minister Robert Kalinak said doctors had managed to stabilise Fico's condition overnight, and procedures were underway to secure further improvement.

"Unfortunately the condition continues to be very serious due to the complicated nature of the wounds, but we all want to believe firmly that we will succeed in managing the situation," he said.

The incident raised questions over Fico's security arrangements, as the attacker managed to fire five shots at point blank range despite the prime minister being accompanied by several bodyguards.