Slovak police search home of PM shooting suspect

BRATISLAVA

Slovak police on May 17 searched the home of the man charged with shooting and seriously wounding Prime Minister Robert Fico, local media reported.

Officers brought along the alleged gunman, who was wearing a bulletproof vest and helmet, to the apartment he shared with his wife in the western town of Levice, Markiza TV footage showed.

"Police stayed in the apartment for several hours... They took the computer and documents out of the apartment," the private broadcaster said.

Police, who told AFP they would not comment on an ongoing investigation, have not named the suspect but media have identified him as 71-year-old writer Juraj Cintula.

He was charged on May 16 with attempted murder with premeditation in what the authorities have called a politically motivated attack.

Fico was hospitalized on May 15 after the attack, which happened as the 59-year-old leader was speaking to members of the public after a meeting in the central town of Handlova.

Security guards quickly bundled Fico into a nearby car, before he was airlifted to a hospital for an five-hour emergency surgery to save his life.

President-elect Peter Pellegrini said on May 16 that Fico remained in a serious condition at the hospital in the central city of Banska Bystrica.

"He is able to speak but only a few sentences and then he is really, really tired... The situation is very critical," Pellegrini told reporters.

He added that a medical council would meet on May 20 to discuss further steps.

He added that Fico had remained conscious after the shooting.

"He remembers the shooting, he was surprised that it could happen and how fast it happened," Pellegrini told the TA3 news channel on May 16.

The shooting has prompted fears of further violence in the politically polarized nation just weeks before European parliament elections.