Suspect in attack on Slovak PM showed no sign of political extremism: Neighbours

LEVICE, Slovakia-A 71-year-old former security guard, charged on May 16 with the attempted murder of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, is the author of three collections of poetry who neighbours said had shown no sign of political extremism.

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Mr Fico, 59, was shot as he greeted supporters in the small town of Handlova, in central Slovakia, and underwent hours of surgery.

A hospital official on May 16 said the Prime Minister was in a "very serious" but stable condition.

The suspect, who was apprehended at the scene, has not been named by the authorities, but scattered details about him began to emerge as the country struggled to make sense of the attack.

A neighbour in the modest seven-storey building in Levice where the suspect lives said he had known the man for 40 years and that he had never vented extreme political views. Levice is a town of about 36,500 inhabitants due south of Handlova.

"He was a polite man and wasn't strong about politics as such, but he did feel that some of the measures of the government weren't correct," pensioner Mile Ludovit, 68, told Reuters.

"Some of the media reports say he was planning it for a month already, but there was no sign of it." The suspect is a former security guard at a shopping centre, the author of three collections of poetry, and a member of the Slovak Society of Writers, local media reported.

News outlet Aktuality.sk cited the suspect's son as saying his father was the legal holder of a gun licence.