The Ministry of Justice of North Macedonia announced on Monday, September 12, that it is seeking the extradition from Hungary of the former Prime Minister, Nikola Gruevski.

On November 13, 2018, Gruevski escaped to Hungary, while a few days later he announced that the authorities in Budapest had approved his request for political asylum, due to, as he said, "the political persecution by the Government of the then Prime Minister of Macedonia of North Zoran Zaev".

His claims have been rejected by the Macedonian Government, which wants Gruevski to serve several prison terms.

The former Macedonian prime minister must face 12 and a half years of imprisonment for two final judgments and one of the first degree, but also with several court processes that are ongoing.

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The Macedonian Ministry of Justice announced that it is following the court proceedings and that it will once again request that Gruevski be extradited to North Macedonia.

"Until now, an extradition request was sent for Nikola Gruevski in November 2018 and another in June 2019. The extradition request includes all cases for which we are aware that proceedings are underway before the Macedonian judicial bodies, namely for all the procedures for which an arrest warrant has been issued", it is stated in the notification of the Ministry of Justice.

Hungary rejected the extradition request on October 5, 2019 on the grounds that Nikola Gruevski was granted asylum and, according to Hungarian law, a person cannot be extradited to the country from which he fled.

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The prosecution of the former Macedonian Prime Minister, Nikola Gruevski, and other officials was initiated by the wiretapping affair that was published in 2013 by Zoran Zaev, the former chairman of the Social Democratic League, the party that was in opposition at the time.

Nikola Gruevski was the Prime Minister of North Macedonia from 2006 to 2016./REL/