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PHOTO FILE: Nikola Gruevski, former Prime Minister of Macedonia, arrives in Skopje, Macedonia, on October 5, 2018.REUTERS / Ognen Teofilovski / File PhotoReuters
BUDAPEST (Reuters) – Former Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski has applied for asylum at a Hungarian representation outside of Macedonia before joining Hungary earlier this week and filing his formal refugee claim , announced Budapest Thursday.
Gruevski, who resigned in 2016 after 10 years in power, fled his Balkan country six months after being sentenced to two years in prison for corruption.
Macedonian police issued an arrest warrant against him after he did not show up to start serving his sentence following a court decision issued on November 9th at the ## 147 ################################################################################# 39 against his request for stay.
Gruevski's refugee claim could put Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban at a dead end. He supported nationalist compatriot Gruevski in the run-up to the 2017 elections in Macedonia, and praised his party's efforts to stop migrants transiting the Balkans north to Western Europe.
A senior Hungarian official declined to say in which country Gruevski first asked for asylum in Hungary or how he later went to the immigration and immigration office. Asylum in Budapest, where he had submitted documents and obtained an audition.
"After what I know, he made a statement about threats to his safety (…), which justified his hearing being conducted not in a transit zone, but in Budapest", said Gergely Gulyas, chief of staff of Orban.
S addressing reporters, Gulyas did not want to know if the Hungarian government had helped Gruevski to get to Budapest or had it arrived by land or air. He said that Hungary had played no role in the exit of Gruevski from Macedonia.
The Albanian police, bordering Macedonia, announced on Thursday that Gruevski had crossed Albanian territory to travel to Montenegro north on Sunday night as a passenger in a car from the Hungarian embassy. It was not clear if Gruevski had then transited through Serbia to reach Hungary further north.
According to the Albanian police, Interpol would have only announced to them a arrest warrant against Gruevski only on Tuesday, when the former Prime Minister announced on his Facebook page that he was in Budapest and that he was not. he asked for asylum.
Gulyas said that Budapest had not yet received an official request from Macedonia to extradite Gruevski, adding that Hungary would act "in accordance with the law" if that occurred. He said that there was an extradition agreement between the two countries.
Asked whether Gruevski was protected by the Hungarian authorities, Gulyas said Budapest had implemented "the appropriate security protocol" and was assured that he would not leave the country. Gruevski has not met Orban this week, he added.
On Wednesday, a spokesman for Fidesz said Gruevski was a politician persecuted by the Macedonian leftist government. Gulyas declined to comment on this.
(Report by Krisztina Than in Budapest and Benet Koleka in Tirana, edited by Mark Heinrich)
Copyright 2018 Thomson Reuters.
