Slovakia’s populist Prime Minister Robert Fico has been airlifted from a Banská Bystrica hospital where he was treated after an assassination attempt in the central town of Handlová.
Fico was transported early on Thursday to his home in Bratislava, where he will receive nursing care, reports say.
The Slovakian PM was shot in the abdomen at close range as he greeted supporters in Handlová earlier this month.
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 immediately 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.
The country’s Specialised Criminal Court in the town of Pezinok ordered the suspect, who is charged with attempted murder, to remain in custody.
Prosecutors told police not to publicly identify the suspect or release details about the case.
Government officials originally said they believed it was a politically motivated attack committed by a “lone wolf,” but later announced that a “third party” might have been involved in “acting for the benefit of the perpetrator”.
Multiple protests have taken place in Slovakia against Fico’s government after he made efforts to overhaul public broadcasting, a move critics said would give the government full control of public television and radio.
That, along with his plans to amend the penal code to eliminate a special anti-graft prosecutor, has led opponents to worry that he would lead Slovakia down a more autocratic path.
