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For those seeking refuge from war and violence, Hungary is an unwelcoming place. Prime Minister Viktor Orban has always been in the vanguard to make refugees an insidious threat, better managed by barbed wire and locked up in detention centers. His government has made it an offense to even assist the citizens of the country requesting asylum.
So it was a little embarrassing this week when former Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, who is supposed to serve a two-year prison sentence on Monday after being found guilty of abuse of power, announced on Facebook that he had fled his native country and was in Budapest seeking asylum.
After more than 24 hours of silence, the Hungarian government confirmed Wednesday evening that Mr Gruevski was in the country and had asked for asylum, but he gave little details, including on how a politician convicted managed to enter the country the passports had been confiscated.
Mr Gruevski's escape fueled outrage in Macedonia, which issued a warrant for arrest against him and demanded his extradition. He also highlighted the competition between the European Union and Russia over the values and allegiances of the countries of Eastern Europe and the Balkans.
For years, Mr. Orban has engaged in a battle with Brussels as it violated its norms and rules on various issues, including migration policy and threats to the independence of the Hungarian judiciary.
At the same time, Orban sought to strengthen his ties with Russia and to find allies in countries east of the bloc of nations, including Western Balkan leaders who aspire to join the Union. .
When Mr. Gruevski was in power, Mr. Orban put aside his concerns about corruption to embrace the Macedonian leader.
Istvan Hegedus, president of the Hungarian Society for Europe, said that Orban had been trying to do the same thing for years: reaping the benefits of EU membership while seeking to obtain the necessary support from Russia and other undemocratic nations.
"This kind of dance between the east and the west, between the dictators and Brussels, it can not work forever," he said. "As a leader, you are forced to make decisions."
In this case, it is Macedonia that finds itself in the middle again.
The small Balkan nation is about to finish a a fierce political battle to change its official name to resolve a decades-old dispute with Greece and chart the way to join NATO. Moscow has long been opposed to NATO enlargement and Mr Gruevski's VMRO-DPMNE opposed the agreement to change the name of the country.
Hegedus and other outside observers said they would not be surprised to see Mr Gruevski disappear from Hungary before reappearing in Russia or another country where it would be more difficult to extradite him.
"It would be incredibly cynical, but Orban could make a human rights argument, claiming that other asylum seekers chose to leave the country and that is their right. ", did he declare. "Which would be incredibly unfair given that most asylum seekers are stuck in shipping containers at the Serbian border."
Márta Pardavi, co–The president of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, a human rights group dedicated to helping refugees, said that it was "totally unrealistic that a former prime minister of 39, another country arrives in Hungary without the prior knowledge of the Hungarian authorities ".
Ms. Pardavi, whose group is a frequent target of the Orban government, said that, technically, the Hungarian Minister of the Interior has the discretion to grant asylum even though a person can not be considered a refugee in circumstances normal.
"It is hypocritical that this extraordinary exception is only made by a great ally of Prime Minister Orban," she said.
The Hungarian government has denied having played a role in facilitating the escape of Mr Gruevski from Macedonia.
"Nikola Gruevski has submitted an application for asylum to the Hungarian competent authority," the government said in a statement. "Since he was Prime Minister of his country for 10 years, the Hungarian authorities allowed Mr Gruevski to have his asylum application submitted and heard at the office's headquarters. 39, immigration and asylum in Budapest.
Explaining why Mr Gruevski had not been forced to go to one of the transit centers set up by Mr Orban to ask for asylum, the Hungarian leader replied disdainfully, asking the journalists to "ask lawyers".
Earlier in the day, however, Balazs Hidveghi, the communications director of Orban's party, Fidesz, spoke of a familiar figure as to why the former Macedonian leader deserved asylum.
"Nikola Gruevski is persecuted and threatened by the current Macedonian government, which is under the influence of George Soros," he said.
There is no evidence that the American philanthropist born in Hungary has anything to do with Mr. Gruevski's legal problems.
In fact, the US government played a key role in helping to set up the special prosecutor's office in Macedonia, which eventually laid charges against Mr Gruevski. In a statement, the State Department said that Mr. Gruevski had been sentenced to the outcome of a "thorough and transparent judicial process".
"We believe it is appropriate that the Macedonian judicial process continue and that Mr. Gruevski be held accountable to the Macedonian judiciary," the department said.
During the trials of Mr. Gruevski and his associates, audio recordings and documents revealed how the former prime minister was leading the country. Mafia state, ordering the surveillance of the opponents, rigging the elections and collecting the spoils.
The trials have been seen as a major step forward in a country plagued by corruption since the proclamation of its independence from the former Republic of Yugoslavia in 1991.
Although Mr. Gruevski still faces various charges, he was recently found guilty of abuse of authority in a case involving the purchase of a new armored vehicle for official purposes while He was prime minister. He lost his last call on November 9 and was scheduled to begin jail time on Monday.
He never showed up.
The reaction in Skopje was fast. The shock and anger of the public were fueled by rumors and suspicions that quickly took their lives online.
Social media – where most people in the country have their news – was plagued by anonymous sources of conspiracy and conspiracy. Some people claimed that Mr. Gruevski escaped by dressing up as a woman and traveling with fake papers. Others saw the hand of Russia.
The Albanian Interior Ministry said late Thursday that Mr Gruevski had escaped from Albania to the Hungarian embassy in Tirana, where he was then driven by diplomatic vehicle in Montenegro. We still do not know how he was able to leave Macedonia and how he managed to get from Montenegro to Budapest.
Some in Macedonia have said they suspect the complicity of the Macedonian government itself, claiming without proof that the administration of Prime Minister Zoran Zaev secretly agreed to let Mr. Gruevski escape in order to ensure vote necessary to reach an agreement on the change of name of the country.
Mr. Zaev said that such speculation was nonsense.
"I strongly reject any speculation about a political agreement with Gruevski. Nothing of the sort has been done, "he said. "We will study how he escaped, but I am confident that Gruevski will be fired and that he will face his sentence."
He then stated that he was confident in the core values of the European Union.
"What kind of motivation should other countries have to join the US if the US allows criminals convicted to escape justice?
