Ex Macedonia PM Flees to Hungary to Dodge Arrest

Published: 13 November 2018

Gruevski Arrest Warrant (Macedonia Interior Ministry)

Gruevski Arrest Warrant (Macedonia Interior Ministry)

By Maja Jovanovska

Macedonia’s former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski fled to Hungary after a Skopje court ordered police to arrest him because he failed to surrender on Friday and serve his two-year prison sentence for corruption.

Police started looking for Gruevski right after it received the order from the Basic Court Skopje 1 to arrest him but he was nowhere to be found.

But, suddenly, on Tuesday, he announced on Facebook he was in Hungary.

“Over the last few days I have received countless threats against my life,” his post read. “I'm in Budapest now, and I've asked for political asylum from Hungarian authorities.”

Gruevski also pledged that he will “always remain faithful to the cause of Macedonia.”

The court in Skopje issued a national warrant after the Appeal Court last Friday rejected the former Prime Minister's appeal for a postponement of his sentence which he filed on October 5.

The court couriers could not find Gruevski over the weekend and on Monday to hand him the order to report immediately to the Skopje prison.

Gruevski was found guilty of illegally soliciting the secret purchase of a 580,000 euro-Mercedes in 2012, during the time he was Prime Minister.

Meanwhile, the former PM is also facing other trials for abuse of office, electoral fraud and other financial abuses.

He led the Macedonian government from 2006 to 2016, and headed the VMRO-DPMNE party from 2003 until 2017.