SKOPJE (Macedonia), November 13 (SeeNews) – Macedonia’s former prime minister Nikola Gruevski, convicted to two years in jail for his role in a corruption scheme, said on Tuesday he has sought political asylum in Hungary.
“In recent days, I have received lots of threats to my life. Now I am in Budapest where I have sought political asylum from the Hungarian authorities,” Gruevski said in a Facebook post.
On Monday, Macedonia’s interior ministry said it was searching for Gruevski on an arrest warrant after he failed to report to prison to start serving a jail sentence.
In late October, the criminal court in Skopje ordered Gruevski to present himself at prison by November 8 in order to serve a two-year jail sentence for his involvement in a corruption scheme in 2012.
In May, the criminal court in Skopje sentenced Gruevski to two years in prison for unlawfully influencing the decision of interior ministry officials to purchase a Mercedes car at an estimated cost of 600,000 euro ($683,532). Last month, Skopje Appelate Court dismissed an appeal against the jail sentence lodged by Gruevski.
Gruevski, who led Macedonia's government from 2006 to 2016, was convicted on evidence collected during a massive wiretapping scandal that broke out in 2015 and contributed to the fall of his government. Gruevski has denied responsibility for the wiretapping.
($ = 0.88720 euro)