Nikola Gruevski

Macedonia has prepared its extradition request for former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski and will likely send it to Hungary by the close of Tuesday, Macedonian Justice Minister Renata Deskoska told media.

Aleksandar Vucic confirmed on Monday evening that Nikola Gruevski, who fled last week as he was due to start a two-year jail term in Macedonia, exited Serbia at the Tompa-Horgos-Roszke border crossing with Hungary on November 12, the same day as he arrived in Serbia from Montenegro.

Data from the Macedonian, Albanian and Montenegrin police now paint a relatively accurate picture of former prime minister Nikola Gruevski's escape route through the Balkans to Hungary to avoid serving a two-year prison sentence.

A former prime minister of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) who is on the run following a prison sentence on corruption charges entered Montenegro earlier this week from Albania but left the same day, Montenegro's police said Friday.

Bulgaria's Prime Minister Boyko Borissov met with Macedonia's Prime minister, Zoran Zaev on 15th of November in Sofia. A joint meeting of the governments of Bulgaria and Macedonia will be held in early December. The two prime ministers will jointly open the section of Struma motorway between Sandanski and Kresna, reports BNT. 

Albania police confirmed on Thursday evening that Macedonia's former Prime Minister, Nikola Gruevski, travelled through Albania to Montenegro on November 11 via the Hani I Hotit/Bozaj border crossing.

He travelled as a passenger in a car owned by the Hungarian embassy in Albania, according to the police announcement.

Macedonia will send Hungary a formal extradition request for the runaway former prime minister Nikola Gruevski in the next few days, government spokesperson Mile Bosnjakovski said on Thursday.

Ex prime minister of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia Nikola Gruevski has sought asylum at a Hungarian representation outside FYROM, Budapest said on Thursday, after he fled to Hungary earlier this week.

Gruevski, who resigned in 2016 after 10 years in power, left for Budapest six months after he was sentenced to two years in prison on corruption-related charges.

Macedonian authorities on Wednesday said they will ask Hungary to extradite fugitive Ex-PM Nikola Gruevski, who fled to Budapest to evade serving a two-year jail sentence and four more ongoing trials.

After the Macedonian Interior Ministry said former prime minister Nikola Gruevski had fled to Hungary and was applying for political asylum there, an EU spokesperson told BIRN that Brussels was following events and hoped the case would not be politicised.