Report: Hungary grants asylum to former Macedonian leader
Posted November 20, 2018 9:34 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
BUDAPEST, Hungary — Hungarian media are reporting that the country has decided to grant political asylum to the fugitive former prime minister of Macedonia.
The pro-government newspaper Magyar Idok said Tuesday that Nikola Gruevski, who fled his country last week as he was about to serve a two-year prison term for corruption, was granted asylum because immigration authorities concluded that he would be at risk of political persecution if he returned to his homeland.
Hungarian officials have yet to confirm the media report. Macedonia has requested Gruevski’s extradition from Hungary.
Gruevski, prime minister from 2006 to 2016, is considered a close ally of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, although government has insisted that the asylum request is purely a legal matter, not a political one.
The Associated Press
