SKOPJE, Nov. 13 (Xinhua) -- The Macedonian Ministry of Interior (MoI) confirmed on Tuesday that the former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski has fled to Hungary.
In a post on Facebook, Gruevski wrote that in the last few days he received numerous threats.
"I am in Budapest now and I have asked a political asylum from the Hungarian authorities. They I will remain loyal to Macedonia' cause. I will never give up," wrote Gruevski.
In a statement for the media, Macedonian Interior Minister Oliver Spasovski said: "The security detail stated that they were last used by Gruevski on Nov. 8th, when they escorted him home around 11 p.m."
Earlier Tuesday, Saso Mijalkov, former director of the Administration of Security and Counterintelligence in Macedonia and until recently a high-ranking member of VMRO-DPMNE opposition party, said he didn't know the location of Gruevski, his first cousin.
On Monday, the Macedonian criminal court requested the MoI to issue an arrest warrant for Gruevski.
The Ministry of Justice declared that it will make an extradition request when the MoI has an official confirmation that Gruevski fled to Hungary.
The Basic Court in Macedonia underlined that Gruevski has been deprived of personal and diplomatic passports which remain in court, and all measures against him have been confirmed by the Court of Appeal.
Moreover, Ivan Dzolev, head of the Criminal Court, said the court cannot determine the measure of detention on its own initiative, but that it is always at the request of the prosecution.
"From the very beginning of the "Tank" case, the Prosecution did not request a measure of detention for the accused Nikola Gruevski," stated Dzolev.
On Oct. 5, the court found Gruevski guilty of acquiring personal gain and influencing officials in purchasing a new Mercedes vehicle in 2012 for more than 600,000 euro (681,000 U.S. dollars) and sentenced him to two-year imprisonment for the case codenamed "Tank".
According to the court order he had to report by Nov. 8 at Shutka prison in Skopje the latest. Gruevski appealed over the jail term, but the Macedonian Criminal Council rejected it on Nov. 9.
Gruevski was prime minister from 2006 to 2016, representing the right-wing VMRO-DPMNE party in Macedonia.
