In a remarkable turn of events, a high-profile client facing an unjust INTERPOL Red Notice was saved by the unexpected intervention of a government minister’s Twitter post. This case highlights the profound impact of strategic public support in countering politically motivated or abusive international legal actions.
The Facts
The Applicant is a national of Ukraine and Russia. From 2007 to 2014 he was a member of nationalist organisation “Restruct” and took part in public rallies and actions condemning the actions of the Russian authorities in Crimea.
The Applicant was a subject of Interpol’s diffusion circulated on 19 November 2020 by Russia for “use of violence against a public official”.
On 06 November 2020 the Applicant was detained in Jakarta based on the diffusion and was released later the same month
The arguments we put to the Commission
Interpol Red Notice Law Firm requested the deletion of the data concerning the Applicant contending, in essence, that:
- the case is of a predominantly political character;
- Indonesian authorities denied his extradition;
- and the relevant proceedings demonstrate no due respect to the principles of human rights.
What the Commission found
In consideration of the general context of the case, the Commission for the Control of Interpol’s files (CCF) recalls that to support his argument of political purpose, the Applicant asserted that when he was detained in Indonesia on the basis of the Diffusion to arrest in view of extradition circulated by Russia, he was supported by the Ukrainian Embassy in Indonesia as well as the Ukrainian Foreign Minister who, on 28 November 2020, Tweeted that: “We returned Ukrainian citizen Mykhailo Orieshnikov from Indonesia, where Russia tried to seize him, using Interpol for their political persecution. We didn’t let them do it. The plane with Orieshnikov is already flying to Kyiv. Ukrainian passport = protection of the Ukrainian state”.
Although it did not receive confirmation from the NCB of Ukraine, the Commission verified through the Twitter platform that the Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba indeed sent the abovementioned Tweet from his verified Twitter account concerning the Applicant.
The outcome
The Commission held that maintaining the data challenge would have significant adverse implications for the neutrality of the Organization.
Therefore, the Commission concluded that the data challenged in this regard did not comply with Article 3 of INTERPOL’s Constitution.
The ground: Article 3 and the predominance test
Where the character of a case is predominantly political, military, religious or racial, INTERPOL is forbidden by Article 3 of its Constitution from taking it up at all. The Commission does not stop at the offence named in the request: it weighs the context in which the prosecution arose. Participation in rallies against a foreign state’s conduct, followed by a request from that same state, is the situation the decisions on the predominance test address most directly. Every released decision, with the ground and the outcome, is in our catalogue of CCF decisions.
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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.