Macedonia: Police Issue Arrest Warrant For Former PM Gruevski
By RFE RL
(RFE/RL) — Macedonian police have issued an arrest warrant for former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, who has been convicted and sentenced to a two-year prison term on corruption-related charges.
Interior Ministry spokesman Toni Angelovski said the warrant for Gruevski’s arrest was issued November 12 following court instructions.
Judges on November 9 rejected Gruevski’s final appeal against his serving the sentence.
The former leader of the conservative main opposition party VMRO-DPMNE was sentenced in May to two years in prison for unlawfully influencing Interior Ministry officials over the purchase of a luxury vehicle at an estimated cost of 600,000 euros ($674,500).
Court clerks have tried in vain to locate Gruevski and personally serve him the order to present himself at the prison.
Gruevski, 48, was prime minister from 2006-2016. He is the former leader of the main opposition conservative VMRO-DPMNE party, which claims he is being politically persecuted.
He is still facing three other corruption trials, including over a major wiretapping scandal, and could be handed longer sentences than the one already given to him.
