Two weeks after being shot and seriously wounded in an assassination attempt, Prime Minister Robert Fico of Slovakia was released from the hospital on Thursday and taken to his home in Bratislava, the capital. Miriam Lapunikova, the director of the hospital in central Slovakia where Mr. Fico underwent several rounds of surgery, told the TV3 television station that the prime minister’s condition had stabilized sufficiently for him to continue treatment at his residence. Mr. Fico, a combative populist who took office in October after eking out a narrow victory in a parliamentary election, has not spoken publicly since he was shot on May 15 in the Slovak town of Handlova during a meeting with supporters. His return to Bratislava suggested that he would resume control of a government that opponents have accused of eroding democracy and of putting Slovakia on the same authoritarian path taken by Prime Minister Viktor Orban in neighboring Hungary.

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Persons: Robert Fico, Miriam Lapunikova, Fico, eking, Viktor Orban Organizations: TV3 Locations: Slovakia, Bratislava, Slovak, Handlova, Hungary