Slovakian authorities today revised the May 15 assassination attempt charges against Prime Minister Robert Fičo and are now investigating a terrorist attack rather than an attempted murder, the prosecutor’s office said.

Ficho was shot four times at close range while greeting supporters after a government meeting in the central city of Hadlova.

After the attack, the alleged attacker, identified by Slovak media as the poet Juraj Tsintula, 71, was charged with attempted first degree murder and remanded in custody.

“Particularly serious crime of terrorist attack”

The case “has been reclassified,” Zuzana Drombova, a spokeswoman for the attorney general’s office, told AFP.

“We have informed the suspect today that his act now constitutes a particularly serious crime of terrorist attack,” he added without elaborating.

Fitso, 59, leads a three-party coalition made up of his own populist, centrist Smer-SD party, the centrist Hlas party and the far-right SNS party.

After the attack, Robert Fitzo underwent two hours-long surgeries at a hospital in the central Slovakian city of Banska Bystrica and was transferred to the capital Bratislava on May 31 to recover at home.

The prime minister of Slovakia is currently recovering from his serious injuries.