Our legal team successfully demonstrated that the accusations of drug trafficking against a Roma individual were racially motivated and lacked any legitimate legal foundation. As a result, the Interpol Red Notice was lifted, ensuring the client’s protection from unlawful prosecution and restoring his fundamental rights.
The Facts
A Belarusian Roma individual was accused of drug trafficking, leading to prolonged persecution by national law enforcement authorities.
Despite obtaining refugee status in Ukraine in 2019, the client continued to face restrictions due to the issuance of an Interpol Red Notice.
The Red Notice prevented free movement across borders and created ongoing legal complications, even after extradition was denied by Ukrainian authorities.
The arguments we put to the Commission
The issuance of an Interpol Red Notice based on racial characteristics contravenes the fundamental norms, standards, and rules enshrined in the Charter of Interpol.
Our lawyers emphasized that the charges were racially motivated and lacked evidentiary or legal basis.
A formal request was submitted to the Commission for the Control of Interpol’s Files (CCF) to remove all records concerning the client and to cancel the Red Notice.
What the Commission found
The CCF acknowledged the concerns raised regarding racial discrimination and the absence of lawful grounds for prosecution.
Temporary measures were adopted to block further searches and prevent misuse of Interpol mechanisms against the client while the case was under review.
The Outcome
The Interpol Red Notice was ultimately lifted.
The client’s rights were safeguarded against unlawful prosecution.
This case reaffirmed the principle that Interpol mechanisms must not be exploited for discriminatory or politically motivated purposes.
Racial character, and what refugee status adds
Article 3 covers racial as well as political character, and a grant of refugee status by another state is powerful material because it is an independent finding that this person needed protection from the state now seeking them. Read together with the requirement in Article 2 that INTERPOL act in the spirit of the Universal Declaration, that combination is what the decisions under Article 3 and the decisions under Article 2 turn on. The released record in full is in our catalogue of CCF decisions.
Discrimination-based notices can be contested — talk to a Red Notice lawyer.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. For advice specific to your situation, please consult a qualified lawyer.
One file is not a pattern. No two alerts turn on the same facts, and a ground that carried this case will not carry another where the underlying material is different. A case note shows the shape of the work and the kind of argument the Commission accepted — it is not a forecast of any other outcome.
Who will handle your case
Applications to the Commission for the Control of INTERPOL’s Files are drafted and signed by a senior partner, and you deal with that partner throughout — the argument you file is the one you discussed.
Fees are set after a free assessment of the file, because the work depends on whether a notice exists at all, which country supplied the data and how far the case behind it has gone. See the full team on our team page, or speak to a partner directly: +357 96 447475.