Russia is Preparing for a Showdown at Interpol to Seek the Arrest of William Browder – CEO of Hermitage Capital & Leader of Magnitsky Justice Campaign for the 3rd time

November 17, 2014

As the world marks the fifth anniversary of the murder in Russian police custody of Hermitage Capital’s lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, the Russian government is pushing Interpol to arrest William Browder, CEO of Hermitage and leader of the Magnitsky Justice campaign.

The decision on Mr Browder will be a test case for the new leadership at Interpol.  Mr Jürgen Stock from the German Federal Criminal Police was elected on 7 November 2014 as Interpol’s new General Secretary, replacing US representative Ron Noble (http://www.interpol.int/About-INTERPOL/Structure-and-governance/J%C3%BCrgen-Stock), and former Croatian judge Nina Vajić was appointed as chair to Interpol’s Commission for Control of Files in September 2014, replacing former Irish Data Protection Commissioner Billy Hawkes (http://www.interpol.int/News-and-media/News/2014/N2014-165).

Interpol’s Commission for Control of Files will be deciding on the Russian government’s third Red Notice application for Browder at the meeting on November 20^th – 21^st 2014 at the Interpol headquarters in Lyon. The Interpol Commission rejected Russia’s previous two applications for Browder as “predominantly political” and contrary to Interpol’s Constitution.

“Russia has clearly disregarded Interpol’s two previous decisions on Mr Browder’s case as political, and continues to press Interpol on the basis of a barbaric posthumous trial and documents prepared by Russian officials in the Magnitsky case who have been sanctioned in the West,” said a Hermitage Capital representative.

The Browder-led Magnitsky justice campaign has been credited with successfully imposing US visa and financial sanctions on Russian Interior Ministry officials and judges responsible for Sergei Magnitsky’s arrest, ill-treatment and death in custody.

Now Russia is pressing Interpol to arrest Mr Browder on the basis of the Russian case organized by those same sanctioned Russian Interior Ministry officials and judges. The case has been ongoing for many years, and has been highlighted by the Council of Europe as emblematic of politically motivated abuses of the justice system in Russia.

Russia’s third request to Interpol for Browder’s arrest is based on that same case, which culminated last year in Russia with the convictions of Sergei Magnitsky posthumously and Mr Browder in absentia as “co-conspirators” in the first-ever posthumous trial in Russian history.  It is only the second posthumous trial in European history, since the 897 Cadaver Synod when Pope Formosus’ remains were dug out of the ground to face charges after a verdict by Pope Stephen VI that the deceased had been unworthy of the pontificate.

Today’s equivalent of Pope Stephen VI is Russian judge Igor Alisov. He presided over the posthumous trial of Sergei Magnitsky and in absentia trial against Browder in July 2013, and one month later he was promoted by Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.  In May 2014, Judge Alisov was placed on the Magnitsky sanctions list by the US Government.

Judge Elena Stashina is another Russian judge involved in the posthumous/in absentia proceedings against Magnitsky and Browder. Under the same case, she signed the arrest warrant for Mr Browder and earlier for Mr Magnitsky. Serving as the Tverskoi district judge in Moscow when Sergei Magnitsky was alive, she rejected his complaints about cruel treatment and violations of his rights, and extended his detention without trial just four days before he was killed.

Judge Stashina has also been sanctioned by the US Government under the “Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2012.”

This week it will be up to Interpol’s Commission, led by Ms Vajic with four specialists from Canada, France, Turkey, and Mauritius, to decide whether to uphold Interpol’s two previous rejections of the Russian request, or to approve the request, using the posthumous trial as the basis for that change in position.  The latest Russian request forms part of the Russian state’s political attack against Mr Browder, which has been ongoing for several years.

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