Slovakian prime minister had predicted an assassination attempt

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• Fico wondered in a video when country's frustration 'will translate into murder'

The Slovakian prime minister gunned down last week had predicted his own assassination attempt.

A chilling video has emerged of Robert Fico making the prophecy last month.

Mr Fico narrowly survived being shot at five times at point blank range by a politically disillusioned pensioner who 'disagreed' with government policies.

Yesterday (UN), it was announced that his life was no longer in immediate danger but he is still in a serious condition, four days after an assassination attempt that sent shockwaves through Europe.

'We are all a little calmer', deputy prime minister Robert Kalinak told a news conference outside the hospital where Fico is being treated in the central Slovak town of Banska Bystrica.

But it has emerged that Fico earlier complained in the video message about protesters who 'spit obscenities at government politicians'.

And he warned: 'I'm just waiting to see when this frustration will translate into the murder of one of the government's leaders - and I'm not exaggerating one millimetre.'

Juraj Cintula, a 71-year-old poet, has been charged with trying to assassinate Mr Fico. The shooting last Wednesday outside a government meeting in the mining town of Handlova sent shockwaves across Europe. The first serious attempt on a European leader's life in two decades drew comparisons with the murder of Archduke Franz Ferdinand which triggered the First World War.

Pro-Putin Mr Fico, 59, is a divisive leader who has aligned his country with the Kremlin over the war in Ukraine, its next-door neighbour. Cintula, a former miner, stonemason and security guard from Levice in central Slovakia, had become enraged when Mr Fico won a fourth term in office last September. Cintula, who spent the first half of his life under the rule of Soviet-era communism, now faces the rest of his days behind bars if convicted.

When he made his first court appearance at the weekend, his application to be released on bail was refused, with a penal court judge citing a 'fear of possible escape'.

The suspect was flanked by heavily-armed police at the court. Earlier specialist Lynx commandos from Slovakia's National Crime Agency had dressed Cintula in a bulletproof vest and helmet and taken him back to his home.

They searched the father-of-two's apartment which he shares with his wife Elena, taking away computers and documents. Then four elite officers escorted him 15 miles to the couple's cottage in the countryside to hunt for clues there. The pretty building is nestled among trees. Outside there is a decorative scythe with the inscription 'Memento mori', meaning 'Remember you will die'.