Friday

9th Jun 2023

Russia targets UK activist via Interpol

  • Browder (r) at the European Parliament in Brussels (Photo: europarl.europa.eu)

EU states should put financial pressure on Interpol to stop countries such as Russia from abusing the system, a prominent human rights campaigner has said.

Bill Browder, a London-based figure who has fought for tighter EU and US sanctions on Russia, spoke out after the Kremlin confirmed it had filed another red notice at the international police agency calling for his arrest.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

  • Magnitsky died in prison after exposing the $230 million scheme (Photo: Hermitage Capital)

The Russian prosecutor general’s office told Russian media on Thursday (24 August) it had sent “objections” to Interpol after the agency declined to put Browder on its “wanted list” based on a Russian request in June.

But Russia's action still caused an incident at Heathrow airport in the UK on 3 August.

Staff stopped Browder from flying to the US because the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had deleted his visa waiver.

The DHS promptly reinstated it, but Browder told EUobserver that the glitch was linked to the Interpol alert. “Yes. I was informed by people connected to US law enforcement that it was,” he said.

Browder said it was “not clear what actions Interpol did or did not take on the basis of Russia's request”.

Interpol declined to say what it did.

It told this website on Thursday that it "examined" each “red notice” to ensure that it did not have “a political, military, religious, or racial character.”

But the police agency also circulates other alerts, such as “diffusions”, which undergo less scrutiny.

Magnitsky affair

Browder used to run a hedge fund in Russia. He became a human rights campaigner after he and his accountant, Sergei Magnitsky, exposed a $230 million corruption scheme.

Money from the scheme has since been traced to the inner circle of Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

Fallout from the affair has also reached the highest levels of US politics.

Browder spoke in July to a Senate committee on Russia’s meddling in the US election after it emerged that a Russian lobbyist on the Magnitsky case had met US president Donald Trump’s son.

The lobbyist, Natalia Veselnitskaya, wanted help to quash the Magnitsky Act, a US law inspired by Browder that enables it to seize corrupt Russian assets abroad.

Magnitsky died in prison in 2009. Russia then convicted him (posthumously) and Browder (in absentia) of having masterminded the $230 million fraud.

The Interpol request was “linked to Russia's retaliation against my broader work of promoting the Magnitsky Act,” Browder told EUobserver.

EU pressure

The request was Russia's fourth on Browder in recent years. Interpol rejected previous ones on grounds they were “political in nature”.

The police agency, which is based in Lyon, France, has no outside oversight.

But Browder said EU states should force it to mend its ways.

“There needs to be serious sanctions for countries like Russia that routinely abuse Interpol for political purposes,” he said.

“The EU makes up a significant share of the Interpol budget and if it stepped in to demand these types of sanctions, they would be implemented overnight”, he said.

Interpol also took flak last week when Spanish police arrested a Turkish dissident ho was accused of terrorism by Turkish authorities.

Dogan Akhanli, a Turkish writer with German citizenship, later told press: “I thought I was safe in Europe. I thought Turkish arrogance cannot reach Europe, but ... this is not quite true”.

German chancellor Angela Merkel urged Turkey not to “misuse” Interpol.

Some German MPs called for Interpol reform.

Interpol hit lists

The Kremlin has routinely used the police agency to go after its enemies in Europe.

Browder aside, its Interpol hit list has included Ilya Katsnelson, a US businessman in Denmark, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a Russian activist in the UK, Petr Silaev, a Russian activist in Finland, and Eerik Kross, a politician in Estonia.

Belarus, Kazakhstan, Iran, Turkey, and others use Interpol the same way.

Germany itself, in 2015, arrested Ahmed Mansour, a journalist from the Al-Jazeera news agency, on an Interpol notice filed by Egypt.

'I thought I was safe in Europe'

Arrest of Turkish dissident has again highlighted the way rogue regimes use Interpol to hunt their enemies inside the EU.

Opinion

Interpol and the EU: don't play politics

Debate on the EU police agency threatens to undermine its neutrality and the treatment of individuals who cannot enlist political support.

EU's proposed ethics body 'toothless', say campaigners

Transparency campaigners say the new ethics body proposed by the European Commission will do little to prevent corruption at the EU institutions. The proposal comes six months after allegations of a Qatari corruption affair involving a former European Parliament vice-president.

EU's proposed ethics body 'toothless', say campaigners

Transparency campaigners say the new ethics body proposed by the European Commission will do little to prevent corruption at the EU institutions. The proposal comes six months after allegations of a Qatari corruption affair involving a former European Parliament vice-president.

Latest News

  1. Belgian bâtonnier on Russia: 'You can have a client you don't like'
  2. EU's proposed ethics body 'toothless', say campaigners
  3. Study: 90% of Spanish inflation 'driven by corporate profits'
  4. If Spanish economy is doing well, why is Sanchez poised to lose?
  5. EU lawyering for Russia: making 'good' money?
  6. The 'BlackRock exemption' has no place in the EU's due diligence directive
  7. Europeans don't see China as a rival, but weapons to Russia is a red line
  8. Cleaning workers urge Parliament: 'Europe should lead by example'

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of Ministers20 June: Launch of the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations
  2. International Sustainable Finance CentreJoin CEE Sustainable Finance Summit, 15 – 19 May 2023, high-level event for finance & business
  3. ICLEISeven actionable measures to make food procurement in Europe more sustainable
  4. World BankWorld Bank Report Highlights Role of Human Development for a Successful Green Transition in Europe
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic summit to step up the fight against food loss and waste
  6. Nordic Council of MinistersThink-tank: Strengthen co-operation around tech giants’ influence in the Nordics

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. EFBWWEFBWW calls for the EC to stop exploitation in subcontracting chains
  2. InformaConnecting Expert Industry-Leaders, Top Suppliers, and Inquiring Buyers all in one space - visit Battery Show Europe.
  3. EFBWWEFBWW and FIEC do not agree to any exemptions to mandatory prior notifications in construction
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic and Baltic ways to prevent gender-based violence
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Economic gender equality now! Nordic ways to close the pension gap
  6. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Pushing back the push-back - Nordic solutions to online gender-based violence

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us