Forbes: The Election Of Russia's Abuser-in-Chief To Lead Interpol Would Raise Fundamental Questions

[highplainsdem]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/tedbromund/2018/11/18/the-election-of-russias-abuser-in-chief-to-lead-interpol-would-raise-fundamental-questions/#61a75d735cda

Reports in the British press indicate that Alexander Prokopchuk, who has served in Russia’s Interior Ministry since 2003 and as Interpol’s Vice-Chair for Europe since 2016, will be elected as the new president of Interpol at the meeting of the Interpol General Assembly now taking place in Dubai. If accurate, this report raises fundamental questions for all democratic nations in Interpol.

The presidency of Interpol is vacant because of China’s arrest, detention, and disappearance of the now-former president, Meng Hongwei, a Chinese secret policeman. Since October, the office has been filled on an interim basis by South Korean official Kim Jong Yang, who is one of the two contenders from which the General Assembly will choose. The other, of course, is Prokopchuk.

At this point, there is no need to waste energy demonstrating that Russia is an abuser of the Interpol system. That charge has been amply proven already. Russia is certainly not the only abusive state, of course, but it is a major one, and Russian abuse is more significant because it has been so blatant, so often repeated, and is so clearly part of the wider and malevolent strategy of the Putin regime.

There is literally no one in the world who bears a more direct and personal responsibility for Russia’s abuse of Interpol than Alexander Prokopchuk . Since June 2011, he has been the head of Russia’s National Central Bureau, its NCB. Every Interpol member nation has an NCB, which is controlled by the member nation and which serves as the point of contact and conduit for all the information that flows between Interpol and the member nation.

In other words, every single abusive act that Russia has perpetrated through Interpol since June 2011 — the harassment of William Browder, of Estonian politician Eerik-Niiles Kross, of businessmen Igor Borbot and Alexey Kharis, and much more — was sanctioned directly by Prokopchuk. He had the clear and acknowledged responsibility under Interpol’s rules not to abuse its systems. But instead of stopping the abuse, he permitted it, facilitated it, and endorsed it. The abuse is his responsibility.

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[Wounded Bear]

1. The foxes are taking over the hen house...