A court in Skopje sentenced North Macedonia's former prime minister Nikola Gruevski to seven years in jail on Thursday for embezzling 1.3 million euros ($1.4 million) of his party's funds.

It's the third prison sentence for Gruevski, who fled the country in 2018 and now lives in Budapest, after being granted political asylum by Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

Gruevski's over a decade-long authoritarian rule ended in 2016 after a huge wiretapping scandal. He was later handed a jail sentence of two years and another of 18 months for abuse of power and inciting violence respectively.

On Thursday, the tribunal ruled that Gruevski laundered 1.3 million euros, gathered as party membership fees and donations, through different offshore and local companies and eventually used the money to secretly buy prime land and apartments in Skopje.

Four other defendants were tried alongside him and two received jail terms, including former counterintelligence chief Saso Mijalkov, Gruevski's cousin, who also received 15 months.

Earlier this month, the United States black-listed Gruevski for "corruption" and Mijalkov for "undermining democratic institutions."

Judge Ilija Trpkov said Thursday's sentence sends a message that justice would be implemented equally.

Gruevski still faces charges in other cases, including accusations he organized the 2017 attack on the Balkan country's parliament. The former prime minister said he had fled to Hungary after receiving a threat that he would be killed in jail. 

(With input from AFP)