North Macedonia: Court clears fugitive ex-leader of corruption

A court in Skopje has acquitted fugitive former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski of corruption charges involving the construction of his party’s headquarters.

The court cited 2023 Criminal Code amendments as the legal basis for the verdict, which fundamentally altered how abuse of office cases are prosecuted.

This acquittal prevents the state from confiscating the property, allowing the party to keep the multimillion-euro building.

The decision follows a pattern of high-profile corruption trials being weakened or terminated by those same controversial legal changes.

Gruevski remains a fugitive in Hungary, though he still faces a ten-and-a-half-year prison sentence for other final convictions if he returns.