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Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico returns to office 2 months after shooting

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Bratislava, Slovakia:

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said he returned to work on Tuesday, nearly two months after a lone gunman shot him four times on May 15.

Fico, 59, was shot at close range after a government meeting in central Slovakia and had to undergo two lengthy operations in a nearby hospital.

The shooter, identified by Slovak media as 71-year-old poet Juraj Cintula and accused of terrorism, is in custody awaiting trial.

Fico leads a three-party coalition of his centrist Smer-SD party, the centrist Hlas and the far-right SNS and governs the EU and NATO member country with 5.4 million inhabitants.

Slovak media reported that the nationalist Fico, who is often criticized by the EU like his Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orban, arrived at Tuesday’s cabinet meeting through a tunnel to avoid journalists.

“Dear progressive liberal media and opposition, I apologize for surviving, but I’m back,” Fico said on Facebook, posting a picture of himself in his office.

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When Fico took office last fall, Slovakia refused to continue providing military aid to Ukraine, which had been facing a Russian invasion since February 2022.

The Prime Minister himself, like Hungary’s Orban, supports peace talks with Russia.

Fico’s cabinet also caused a stir by passing draft laws that are seen as a threat to the freedom of the judiciary and the media.

Fico was released from hospital on May 31 and made his first public appearance last Friday at a ceremony near Bratislava.

In a speech, he praised Orban’s controversial trip to Moscow and said he would have “gladly come along” if he had been healthy enough.

Fico also called on Slovakia to build a wall to stop “progressive and liberal ideologies,” comparing it to cancer.

After the attack, Fico only walks with crutches. He has also visibly lost weight.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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