By Lucy Komisar
May 31, 2018

Major media is reporting that William Browder was detained in Spain, supposedly on an Interpol red notice, but Interpol then said it didn’t put one out. So maybe it was an old one. Browder tweeted, of course, got lots of ink in the western media, and the story was over. Except it shouldn’t be.

Interpol, the International Criminal Police Organization, is an information clearing house that promotes international police cooperation. Interpol members (all countries except North Korea) have the right to ask other members to detain and extradite a wanted individual. The requests are called red notices. Interpol grants most red notice requests within hours.

But not if the Russians put one out against William Browder. Then it becomes political. Consider what that means.

My email to Interpol last year: For an article I am writing, I would like to get the evidence or background information that had led Interpol to reject Russian requests to put out an arrest warrant for William Browder on grounds the request was politically motivated. I would like more details on the political motivation. I appreciate your return response.

(Envoyé  : mercredi 1 mars 2017 22:48
€  : WEB PRESS <PRESS@INTERPOL.INT>; OSA-CCC Public Mails <OSA-CCCPublicMails@interpol.int>
Subject : Rejection of Russian request for Red Notice on Wm Browder

Interpol’s response

On 3/2/2017 1:40 PM, WEB PRESS wrote:
Confidentiality Level : INTERPOL For official use only

Dear Ms Komisar,

Thank you for your email, however information on decisions by the Commission for the Control of INTERPOL‘s Files individual cases are not made public and no further comment is being made beyond the statements previously published.

Regards,
Press Office

Press Office INTERPOL General Secretariat 200, Quai Charles de Gaulle 69006 Lyon, France  Connect with the world‘s largest international police organization, with 190 member countries:Online: interpol.int Twitter: @INTERPOL_HQ Facebook: facebook.com/InterpolHQ YouTube: youtube.com/user/INTERPOLHQ Instagram: INTERPOL_HQ

“Connecting police for a safer world”

my response

– Forwarded Message ——–

Subject:	Re: Rejection of Russian request for Red Notice on Wm Browder [For official use]
Date:	Thu, 2 Mar 2017 14:05:27 -0500
From:	Lucy Komisar
To:	WEB PRESS <PRESS@INTERPOL.INT>,

Thank you.

I write because there is documentary evidence that Mr. Browder evaded millions of dollars in taxes in Russia.

And there is no evidence at all that his prosecution was based on politics. He was not involved in politics.

On the face of it, his claim seems to be a way to prevent the Russians from getting him to answer the tax evasion charges.

So I want to know if Interpol examined the tax evasion evidence and what evidence it found for political persecution.

Otherwise anyone can make the claim of being politically persecuted, and if the country asking for the red notice is not popular with the countries or interests that run Interpol, criminals can block legitimate law enforcement.

I’m sure you don’t want Interpol to become known for that.

Lucy Komisar

Of course there was no response. Interpol’s neutrality is supposedly guaranteed by Article 3 of its constitution. It explicitly forbids Interpol from engaging in matters of political, military, religious, and racial character.

But in this case Interpol takes its orders from Browder, or more likely from the U.S. government.

Of course, the MSM never looked at the real Interpol-Browder story. Or the fact that the U.S. is degrading the international law enforcement system. Because Russiagate!