Slovak PM says to return to work within month after assassination attempt

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who survived an assassination attempt on May 15, has recorded a video address in which he says he intends to return to his duties by the end of June or early July.

"On May 15, in the town of Gandlova [in the west of the country], an activist of the Slovak [liberal] opposition tried to kill me because of my political views," the prime minister said in a video message posted on his Facebook . "If [the recovery process] goes well, I will be able to gradually return to work by the end of June," he said.

Fico added that he does not hate the man who shot him. "The time has come for me to take the first step, and that is forgiveness," he emphasized. 

Three weeks after the assassination attempt, the prime minister seemed to have lost a lot of weight.

 The accused gunman, identified by Slovak media as 71-year-old poet Juraj Cintula, has been charged with premeditated attempted murder and remanded in custody.

Fico was taken to a hospital in the nearby city of Banska Bystrica where he underwent two lengthy surgeries and remained in recovery until he was transferred for home treatment on May 31.