Macedonia's former prime minister Nikola Gruevski, who has been sentenced to jail for abuse of power, said Tuesday he was in Hungary where he has requested political asylum.
Macedonian authorities on Monday issued a warrant for the arrest of Gruevski, who dominated the country for nearly a decade until 2016, after he failed to turn up at the prison to start his two-year sentence.
"I am now in Budapest, where I have requested political asylum from the Hungarian authorities," the 48-year-old wrote on his official Facebook page on Tuesday.
"During the past couple of days I have received numerous threats to my life."
Saying he was a victim of politically motivated persecution, Gruevski wrote that he remained "faithful to the Macedonian cause", adding: "I will not give up."
In the past, Gruevski has indicated he was close to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
In 2017, Orban publicly supported the Macedonian ex-leader during his campaign for municipal elections, in which Gruevski's rightwing VMRO-DPMNE party lost to the ruling Social Democrats.
Skopje said its interior ministry had obtained confirmation about Gruevski's whereabouts from Hungarian authorities.
"Yes, it is official" that Gruevski is in Hungary, Macedonian Interior Minister Oliver Spasovski told AFP, but declined any further comment.
His office said it would request the court in Skopje to issue an international arrest warrant for Gruevski.
Earlier, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said Budapest did not "wish to confirm or deny information regarding (Gruevski's) current location".
"We are not in a position to comment on ongoing asylum applications," Szijjarto added.
Gruevski was convicted in May of using a 600,000-euro ($676,009) government Mercedes for personal travel. A Skopje court upheld the sentence in October.
- 'No idea where Gruevski is' -
He resigned as leader of VMRO-DPMNE in 2016 after a scandal over allegations of widespread wire-tapping of his opponents.
Gruevski also faces a number of other charges of corruption, abuse of power, electoral fraud as well as illegal wiretapping.
The cases come at a tense time in the Balkan nation, with a new ruling coalition trying to push through a deal to change the country's name to end a long-running row with Greece.
When he was in power, Gruevski took a hardline stance against changing the country's name to resolve the dispute with Greece, which has its own province called Macedonia.
Greece has blocked Skopje's entry into NATO and the European Union over the issue for nearly 30 years.
VMRO-DPMNE now appears divided over changing the country's name.
A party spokesman said it had "no idea where the honorary president (Gruevski) is or what he is doing".
Spokesman Dimce Arsovski said he last saw Gruevski "nine or 10 months ago".
"I don't know when current president (Hristijan) Mickoski spoke to him for the last time," he told a press conference.
Macedonia’s former prime minister Nikola Gruevski, who has been sentenced to jail for abuse of power, said Tuesday he was in Hungary where he has requested political asylum.
Macedonian authorities on Monday issued a warrant for the arrest of Gruevski, who dominated the country for nearly a decade until 2016, after he failed to turn up at the prison to start his two-year sentence.
“I am now in Budapest, where I have requested political asylum from the Hungarian authorities,” the 48-year-old wrote on his official Facebook page on Tuesday.
“During the past couple of days I have received numerous threats to my life.”
Saying he was a victim of politically motivated persecution, Gruevski wrote that he remained “faithful to the Macedonian cause”, adding: “I will not give up.”
In the past, Gruevski has indicated he was close to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
In 2017, Orban publicly supported the Macedonian ex-leader during his campaign for municipal elections, in which Gruevski’s rightwing VMRO-DPMNE party lost to the ruling Social Democrats.
Skopje said its interior ministry had obtained confirmation about Gruevski’s whereabouts from Hungarian authorities.
“Yes, it is official” that Gruevski is in Hungary, Macedonian Interior Minister Oliver Spasovski told AFP, but declined any further comment.
His office said it would request the court in Skopje to issue an international arrest warrant for Gruevski.
Earlier, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said Budapest did not “wish to confirm or deny information regarding (Gruevski’s) current location”.
“We are not in a position to comment on ongoing asylum applications,” Szijjarto added.
Gruevski was convicted in May of using a 600,000-euro ($676,009) government Mercedes for personal travel. A Skopje court upheld the sentence in October.
– ‘No idea where Gruevski is’ –
He resigned as leader of VMRO-DPMNE in 2016 after a scandal over allegations of widespread wire-tapping of his opponents.
Gruevski also faces a number of other charges of corruption, abuse of power, electoral fraud as well as illegal wiretapping.
The cases come at a tense time in the Balkan nation, with a new ruling coalition trying to push through a deal to change the country’s name to end a long-running row with Greece.
When he was in power, Gruevski took a hardline stance against changing the country’s name to resolve the dispute with Greece, which has its own province called Macedonia.
Greece has blocked Skopje’s entry into NATO and the European Union over the issue for nearly 30 years.
VMRO-DPMNE now appears divided over changing the country’s name.
A party spokesman said it had “no idea where the honorary president (Gruevski) is or what he is doing”.
Spokesman Dimce Arsovski said he last saw Gruevski “nine or 10 months ago”.
“I don’t know when current president (Hristijan) Mickoski spoke to him for the last time,” he told a press conference.
