(Reuters) -Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico appeared in public on Friday for the first time since a May assassination attempt.
Fico, who is recovering after being shot four times at close range in mid-May, spoke at a podium at an evening ceremony marking Saints Cyril and Methodius Day, a public holiday in Slovakia.
Fico, a four-time leftist prime minister who returned to power after winning an election last September, had been shot when he greeted supporters at a government meeting in the central Slovak town of Handlova, leaving him needing hours of surgery.
He has been recovering at home since the end of May.
His attacker, a man identified by prosecutors as 71-year old Juraj C., was detained and charged with attempted premeditated murder. Prosecutors this week upgraded the case to a terrorist attack.
The attack on Fico has highlighted the deep polarisation of politics in the central European country of 5.4 million.
In a video message posted on Facebook in early June, Fico called his attacker an opposition activist, but said he felt no hatred toward the attacker and would not seek damages.
His return to power has marked a sharp shift in policy which critics say raises worries about the rule of law and media freedom, as well as hurting relations with the European Union and NATO member state’s allies.
The detained man has, according to court documents, said he had wanted to hurt the prime minister, but not kill him, because he disagreed with policies including cancelling a special prosecutor’s office and stopping state military aid to Ukraine as it battles Russia’s invasion.
The leftist-nationalist government has also faced opposition-led protests and has fought with Slovakia’s mainstream media outlets.
This month, it began the transformation of the public broadcaster despite worries from opposition and media watchdogs that it will limit press freedom.
(Reporting by Jason Hovet in Prague; editing by Diane Craft and David Gregorio)
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