Macedonia's Fugitive Ex-PM Spotted in Hungarian Capital

About a month since his escape from serving a jail sentence in Macedonia, Hungarian news site 24.hu captured a short video footage of Nikola Gruevski in a restaurant in one of the wealthiest districts in Budapest.

Casually dressed, Gruevski had a conversation with two unidentified men in the restaurant, before being picked up by a car that was waiting for him, the Hungarian site said.

The reporter managed to ask Gruevski as he left the restaurant: "Did the Hungarian government help you escape Macedonia?"

The fugitive Macedonian ex-leader did not reply, swiftly getting into the back seat of the car.

The car with Hungarian number plates had windows with darkened glass at the back.

This is the second reported sighting of Gruevski since his escape from Macedonia.

On Tuesday, British photo reporter Daniel Nolan posted a photograph on Twitter of what appeared to be Gruevski taking a casual stroll through the streets of Budapest.

Gotcha! Fugitive ex #Macedonia PM @GruevskiNikola spotted in Budapest. pic.twitter.com/EhN02ZYI9v

— dan nolan (@nolan_dan) December 11, 2018

"Gotcha!" Nolan wrote in his post.

Gruevski was found guilty of the illicit purchase of a luxury limousine and was supposed to report to start serving his two-year jail term on November 9, but failed to do so.

He escaped to neighbouring Albania and then, with the help of Hungarian diplomats, managed to reach Budapest and apply for asylum, which he got shortly afterwards.

Currently there are four other ongoing court cases against Gruevski in Macedonia, as well as five more investigations in which he is a suspect.

Gruevski was prime minister of Macedonia from 2006 to 2016. His VMRO DPMNE...