Fair Trials has responded to requests that Russia’s membership of INTERPOL should be revoked. Yesterday, the UK’s Home Secretary, Priti Patel told the UK parliament that:
“The Ukrainian government has today requested that the Russian government be suspended from its membership of Interpol, and we will be leading all international efforts to that effect.”
Fair Trials’ Legal Director Bruno Min said:
“Russia has long used INTERPOL Red Notices and Diffusions to intimidate and threaten its critics overseas. However, it has taken a full scale invasion of a democratically governed sovereign state for countries such as the UK to finally speak up and openly call for Russia to be suspended from membership.
“But we mustn’t forget Russia is just one of several oppressive regimes that manipulate INTERPOL’s systems for political ends. The international community must take action to ensure that the agency is far better protected from countries that abuse their own criminal justice systems as well as global security mechanisms to crush dissent and consolidate their power.”
Read more about Fair Trials’ campaign for INTERPOL to take further action to prevent its systems being abused and to be more transparent about its work.
