Skopje Appeals Court Upholds Nikola Gruevski’s Acquittal in the “Talir 2” Case

On August 26, the Skopje Appeals Court upheld the decision acquitting fugitive former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski in the “Talir 2” corruption case, media outlets in North Macedonia reported. With this final and legally binding ruling, the prosecution’s appeal was rejected, bringing to an end a seven-year legal process concerning the financing and illegal construction of VMRO-DPMNE’s multimillion-euro headquarters, known as the “White Palace.”

The Appeals Court panel determined that the first-instance court’s ruling should remain in force. It said the prosecution had failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Gruevski had exceeded his official powers or violated rules on the financing of political parties.

The case was also affected by controversial amendments to the Criminal Code, adopted by the parliament in Skopje in 2023. The legal changes significantly weakened the basis for prosecuting abuse of office and shortened the statute of limitations. Without an acquittal, the proceedings would have become fully time-barred within a few days.

According to the Sloboden pecat news portal, confirmation of the acquittal also definitively ended the state’s attempt to confiscate VMRO-DPMNE’s headquarters, as well as around 30 other frozen properties linked to the party.

Although the ruling in “Talir 2” represents a definitive victory for Gruevski in this case, his legal situation remains complicated. In the first trial, in 2022, he was sentenced to six years in prison in the case, but the Appeals Court overturned the ruling and ordered a retrial.

Gruevski remains a fugitive in Hungary, where he was granted political asylum in 2018 to escape another final two-year prison sentence in the “Tank” case, which concerned a luxury armored Mercedes. He also has other final convictions, including a nine-year sentence, upheld by the Appeals Court in 2023, in the “Plots in Vodno” money-laundering case.

Hungarian authorities continue to reject North Macedonia’s requests for his extradition, while Gruevski’s status as a refugee in Budapest remains active.