Former North Macedonian prime minister Nikola Gruevski on Sunday criticised authorities over a potential extradition procedure, accusing the justice ministry and former government officials of orchestrating politically motivated court cases against him.
In a Facebook post published late on Sunday, Gruevski said he had followed remarks by the country’s justice minister regarding efforts to collect court information and initiate extradition proceedings following political developments in Hungary, where he has resided since receiving asylum in 2018.
“I listened today to the justice minister explaining how diligently he collected information from the courts and waited for the new government in Hungary to be informed about changes to my status here and to begin extradition proceedings,” Gruevski wrote.
He questioned the current government’s stance, saying it appeared unchanged from the previous administration led by the Social Democratic Union (SDSM) under former prime minister Zoran Zaev, whom he accused of using “hatred and dirty methods.”
Gruevski urged the justice minister to investigate what he described as abuses and unlawful practices during what he called a period of political persecution under Zaev’s government. He alleged that lists of individuals targeted for prosecution were prepared by the former prime minister’s office in order to portray them as criminals or pressure them into giving testimony.
He further claimed that witnesses and defendants were subjected to coercion, threats and unlawful pressure to provide false statements, and that some defence lawyers withdrew from cases due to intimidation.
Gruevski also questioned the evidence and verdicts in cases against him, arguing that they were based on false assumptions and influenced by pressure on judges from the former government and the now-defunct Special Prosecutor’s Office (SPO).
Referring to specific cases, he said he had been convicted over the procurement of an armoured vehicle, claiming the alleged personal benefit cited by prosecutors was limited to being transported in the car on several occasions. He denied wrongdoing in cases involving land purchases and apartments, saying there was no financial link between him and the transactions.
He also criticised a conviction for violence, describing it as based on testimony that he said lacked factual basis, and alleged that courts had refused to hear witnesses proposed by his defence.
Gruevski said he had been prosecuted for pushing to complete the Kicevo-Ohrid highway before elections, arguing that such actions were politically framed as criminal conduct.
He called on authorities to compare party financing practices and to examine whether there were differences in funding of his party, VMRO-DPMNE.
The former premier alleged that judicial decisions were influenced by directives from the executive branch at the time and said judges faced consequences if they ruled differently.
He acknowledged that foreign officials and media often refer to him as a criminal but said this was due to a lack of familiarity with the details of the cases and reliance on narratives promoted by the previous government.
Gruevski urged the current justice minister to review the cases in detail and present the context to international counterparts.
He also referenced statements by former prosecutors and judges, including Lejla Kadriu and Risto Katavenovski, as supporting his claims of political interference in the judiciary.
“One day, all this will reach the European Union,” he wrote, describing the judicial system of that period as a “parody.”
Gruevski concluded by calling on the justice minister to act in accordance with the law and personal conscience rather than, as he put it, becoming part of “a dirty game from the past.”
Gruevski, who served as prime minister from 2006 to 2016, fled to Hungary in 2018 after being sentenced to prison in corruption-related cases. North Macedonian authorities have periodically indicated efforts to secure his extradition.