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Hungary to consider asylum request from fugitive Macedonia ex-PM

Macedonian then-Premier Nikola Gruevski (R) has previously indicated he was close to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. The men are pictured here in Skopje in 2013

Hungary confirmed Wednesday that it had received a request for political asylum from fugitive former Macedonia prime minister Nikola Gruevski, in a case that could prove a diplomatic headache for Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Budapest said it would consider the application from Gruevski, who dominated Macedonia for nearly a decade until 2016. The move is likely to enrage Skopje, which has issued an international warrant for the former premier's arrest after he failed to show up for his two-year jail term. A day after the 48-year-old said on Facebook he had fled a prison sentence for abuse of power, Prime Minister Viktor Orban's office confirmed that Gruevski "has submitted an asylum request" and had declared that he intended to "submit a request for refugee status in Hungary". "Given that he was prime minister of his country for 10 years, for security reasons the Hungarian authorities have allowed Mr Gruevski to have his asylum request submitted and heard at the headquarters of the Immigration and Asylum Office in Budapest," it added. Budapest declined to reveal details of Gruevski's whereabouts, or how the Macedonian -- who has been stripped of his passport -- entered Hungary. Gruevski had announced via Facebook on Tuesday that he had fled to the Hungarian capital. "I am now in Budapest, where I have requested political asylum from the Hungarian authorities," he wrote. Skopje has called on Budapest not to grant his request. On Wednesday, Macedonian premier Zoran Zaev urged Hungary to "respect international practice, international law" and not provide "a refuge shelter for criminals". In the past Gruevski, an opponent of Macedonia joining the European Union and NATO, had indicated he was close to Hungarian premier Orban. Both have accused US liberal billionaire George Soros of stoking illegal immigration -- claims that Soros denies. In 2017, Orban publicly supported Gruevski during his campaign for municipal elections in which the Macedonian's right-wing VMRO-DPMNE party lost to Zaev's ruling Social Democrats. Budapest insisted that it wanted to keep on good terms with Skopje. "We in no way wish to intervene in the internal affairs of sovereign countries, and we consider the assessment of the former Macedonian prime minister's asylum request to be solely a legal issue," said the government statement. - 'Persecuted and threatened' - Nevertheless, a spokesperson for Orban's ruling party Fidesz said Wednesday that Gruevski was "persecuted and threatened by a left-wing government, which clearly has the support of George Soros". The application will also test Budapest's willingness to apply harsh asylum rules and anti-migrant measures like border fences and detention camps for asylum seekers that have drawn fierce criticism from Orban's opponents at home and abroad including Brussels. Since 2015 Hungary has built a fence fitted with heavily guarded so-called "transit zones" on the border with Serbia where asylum-seekers are detained until their cases are judged. "Will they lock Gruevski up or is a VIP-asylum procedure possible in Budapest?" asked Dutch Green MEP Judith Sargentini on Twitter. Sargentini wrote the report which formed the basis of the European Parliament's decision in September to launch an unprecedented "Article 7" legal action against Budapest. The report accused Hungary of a slew of alleged breaches of civil liberties and EU values, including its harsh treatment of asylum-seekers. Andras Racz, an analyst with the Political Capital think tank in Budapest, said that the one-day delay in confirmation indicated that Budapest was probably "taken by surprise" by Gruevski's sudden announcement. "I don't expect the government will move quickly, it will try to measure the international feedback, to weigh the pros and cons, all the while keeping Gruevski on Hungarian soil," he told AFP.