The carefree life of Gruevski in Budapest

As the Public Prosecutor’s Office was announcing that the report on Nikola Gruevski’s escape will be released in the next two weeks, the first photos and video footage of the careless life of the former prime minister in the Hungarian capital of Budapest were leaked.

A video from Gruevski leaked yesterday, which was recorded by reporters of the Hungarian newspaper 24.hu, who were equipped with a camera and waiting for the former prime minister to leave the restaurant where he dined.

The newspaper wrote: “Nikola Gruevski lives a carefree life in Hungary. On Wednesday, he went to lunch with his chauffeur at one of the most expensive restaurants in Budapest, Cafe 57. The former Macedonian prime minister was accompanied by two men, but then left them, and quickly entered the Volkswagen Sharan vehicle and the driver left the scene with squeaking tires.”

The Cafe 57 restaurant is located in one of the richest districts of Budapest and is known for its expensive and exclusive food.

The correspondent of UK’s Guardian, Dan Nolan, posted a photograph of Gruevski in Budapest on Tuesday, the first one after his escape from Macedonia with a message “Gotcha”. Gruevski was photographed walking the famous Fashion Street to the center of Budapest.

Deutsche Welle announced yesterday that Gruevski in Budapest is housed in a famous and luxurious hotel in the city, that he goes out for walks, often goes jogging, has people visiting from Macedonia and is looking for permanent residence. From the beginning of his escape, he also contacted his party members by telephone and almost all officials VMRO-DPMNE know his new telephone number.

During this time, the investigation goes one step at a time. Next week, prosecutors will go to Montenegro to take the video materials related to this case, and Albania is urged to submit its available materials as soon as possible.

“We received information from our colleagues from Montenegro that they collected all the footage we need and on Monday or Tuesday we will go to take them over. My colleague yesterday urged Albania to provide us with the materials they have as soon as possible,” said prosecutor Vilma Ruskovska.

She added that reviewing the footage they have is already nearing completion and announced that they expect to issue a statement on the results of the pre-trial procedure in the next two weeks.

Regarding Nikola Gruevski’s photo published in the media and social networks yesterday, Ruskovska said that they are likely to take actions to see where this photograph originated from and who took it.
Considering that besides Gruevski, who is alleged to have been photographed in Budapest, one of the defendants in the case of the SPO’s ‘Violence in the municipality of Centar’ was recognized, Ruskovska noted that everyone that can provide certain information regarding Gruevski’s escape will be summoned to the Public Prosecutor’s Office.

“We have so far questioned his security, therefore we will continue in that direction,” Ruskovska said.

Justice Minister Renata Deskoska says they have nothing to do with the request for extradition of Gruevski from Budapest, where the Hungarian authorities granted him political asylum.

“We have not yet received anything from Hungary regarding our extradition request. However, those decent deadlines have not passed. We will wait for a certain amount of time and if after that we do not get a response we will send an urgent request,” Deskoska said.

Nikola Gruevski escaped from Macedonia a month ago to avoid serving the two-year prison sentence for the ‘Tank’ case. With the help of Hungarian diplomats, through Albania, Montenegro and Serbia, he escaped to Hungary, where he sought and received political asylum.

Macedonian authorities issued an international arrest warrant for Gruevski and demanded that he be extradited to Macedonia.

Gruevski is charged in several cases of the Special Public Prosecutor’s Office, for which the Parliament has stripped him of his MP immunity, and for some of the cases, the court ordered 30-day detention.

Who kept the ex-PM company?

In the photo published by the Guardian’s reporter, there is another person whom the public recognized as Aleksandar Trajkovski, an adviser of VMRO-DPMNE in the Municipality of Gazi Baba. Trajkovski had no obligations in the Council in the last two weeks as adviser, since no meetings of the Council or commissions were held, and there were no scheduled hearings in the Criminal Court on the cases in which he was charged. As a defendant in the SPO cases, there are still no precautionary measures for him, so he is able to travel freely.

Gruevski is accompanied by two people in the Café 57 restaurant, but the identity of these people is still unknown.

Trajkovski was one of those who protested not so long ago in front of the Criminal Court demanding “Justice for Gruevski”, and earlier in the summer of 2013, he was involved in the attack on the municipal barracks at Centar. There is an ongoing trial for these events, in which he is one of the defendants.

(NV)