A 71-year-old man has been charged with the attempted murder of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico after the politician was seriously hurt in a shooting attack.

The alleged assailant has not been formally named, but Slovak reports have widely identified him as a man from the town of Levice.

Reports say he could face up to life in prison.

Robert Fico, 59, is in a serious but stable condition after being shot several times in what colleagues described as a politically motivated attack.

Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok told a news conference on May 16 that the suspect had acted alone and that he had previously taken part in anti-government protests.

Peter Pellegrini, a populist and ally of Robert Fico, won April’s vote.

It was in broad daylight on May 15 that PM Fico, surrounded by a crowd of supporters, was shot at close range.

A gunman fired five times, hitting the prime minister in the stomach and arm.

The attack took Robert Fico’s security detail completely by surprise. Footage showed several officers bundling the wounded PM into a car, before driving away at high speed, while the others detained the suspect.

Image source: Wikimedia Commons

PM Fico was rushed to a nearby hospital in an air ambulance, with injuries described as life-threatening.

He was then transferred to another facility in Banska Bystrica, east of Handlova, where surgeons and trauma teams worked through the night to stabilise him.

On May 16, the hospital director told a news conference that PM Fico’s condition was stable, but “truly very serious”, and he had been moved to an intensive care unit.

Local media reports describe the suspect as a writer and political activist.

A video being widely circulated on Slovak media purports to feature him.

In the footage, the man says he disagrees with government policy and its stance towards state media.

Several Slovak politicians called the shooting an “attack on democracy”.

On May 16, Slovakia’s outgoing President Zuzana Caputova appealed for calm and invited all party leaders to a meeting to discuss political tension.

Meanwhile, Slovak President-elect Peter Pellegrini called on all parties to suspend campaigning before European parliament elections scheduled for early June.

Robert Fico is a divisive figure at home for his calls to end military aid to Ukraine and sanctions on Russia.

The shooting came on the day parliament began discussing the government’s proposal to abolish Slovakia’s public broadcaster RTVS.

Thousands of Slovaks have protested against the proposed reform of the public broadcaster in recent weeks. However, a planned opposition-led demonstration was called off on May 15 as news of the shooting emerged.