VIENNA — For years, strongmen and autocrats had a novel weapon to hunt political enemies. They used Interpol, the world's largest police organization, to cross borders and take over — even in democracies.
An award-winning Venezuelan journalist was arrested in Peru. An Egyptian asylum seeker was detained in Australia. And Russia has repeatedly tried to secure the arrest of William F. Browder, a London-based human rights activist.
In response, Interpol has tightened oversight of its arrest alerts, known as red notices, making it more difficult to misuse them. But as Interpol adapted, so did strongmen, turning to the agency's lesser-known systems to pursue dissidents, a New York Times investigation reveals.
For example, Belarus and Turkey have turned Interpol's database on lost and stolen passports into a weapon to harass dissidents or leave them stranded abroad. The abuse of this important anti-terrorist tool got so bad that Interpol temporarily banned Turkey from using it. Belarus is now the subject of special monitoring after Interpol detected a wave of politically motivated entries, officials said.
And as the world learned that countries like Russia and China were abusing red alerts, Interpol has seen an increase in other alerts. Blue notices—alerts seeking information about someone—have more or less doubled over the last decade, Interpol data shows.
Countries are testing Interpol's resilience just as the century-old organization prepares to elect its next leader.
Based in the picturesque French city of Lyon, Interpol acts as a digital bulletin board that helps law enforcement agencies around the world share information on fugitives and crimes. At best, it helps track down murderers and terrorists.
But if governments cannot trust their databases, Interpol's credibility would be undermined.
Although Interpol now reviews each red notice before it is issued, it does not examine blue notices until they have been circulated. Those post-facto checks have identified 700 alerts since 2018 that violated Interpol rules, according to figures released for the first time to The Times.
“It is as worrying as the abuse of red notices was 10 years ago and led to the reforms we have now,” said Stephen Bailey, a lawyer and author of the book “The Legal Foundations of Interpol.”
Bailey said he had worked to block several blue notices and Indian passport database entries. Ultimately, they were all found to be violating Interpol rules, she said.
A dozen lawyers in the United States and Europe said they have seen an increase in cases involving politically motivated abuse of lesser-known Interpol systems.
Interpol spokesman Samuel Heath rejected the idea that political abuses were increasing. Rather, he said Interpol's improvements had made it easier to challenge decisions.
Even some of Interpol's harshest critics acknowledge that under Jürgen Stock, its current Secretary General, the agency has made progress in combating the abuse of red notices. However, they are concerned about what will happen after Stock leaves office in November.
“The election of his successor will determine whether those reforms are maintained and advanced or whether Interpol regresses to the days of the Old West,” said Ted R. Bromund, an analyst at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank in Washington.
The leading candidates are veteran Interpol officials from Britain and Brazil, and both say they are committed to continuing oversight.
Stephen Kavanagh, the British candidate, has played a key role in tightening the red notice system in his current role as Stock's right-hand man. He portrays himself as a “trustworthy and experienced” leader and has a history of fighting corruption in law enforcement.
Brazil's candidate, Valdecy Urquiza, emphasizes Brazil's neutrality on geopolitical issues and has promised to improve diversity, serving people of all nations, including “Africans, Arabs and Asians.”
Neutrality is a cornerstone of Interpol, but Countries like Russia and China have used it to argue that the West should not dictate which red notices are approved.
The vote will take place, most likely in June, in a secret ballot among the members of Interpol's executive committee: Argentina, Belgium, China, Egypt, India, Namibia, Nigeria, Spain, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and the United States .
Britain has put its entire diplomatic network behind Kavanagh, who entered policing at age 18 and is seen as an Interpol insider, a veteran with policing connections around the world.
Interpol has never had a Secretary General outside the United States or Europe, and Urquiza is finding receptive ears for his promise to be the candidate for change. A lawyer by training, he has experience in combating human trafficking and in environmental monitoring, an area of particular importance in Africa, and in international work.
In December, a Russian Minister criticized the restrictions that Interpol has imposed on the country. Russia is among six countries, officials said, subject to what are known as “corrective measures.” These can range from stricter supervision to a ban on publishing on Interpol channels.
The governments of Belarus, Russia and Türkiye did not respond to requests for comment. An Indian government spokesman described the abuse allegations as “baseless” and said India rarely uses blue notices, citing 58 last year.
Blue notices, police requests for information such as location, represent a newer challenge, which Interpol is now reviewing. Countries can instantly issue blue notices around the world. Each one carries a note saying it has not been examined. Other communications, such as direct messages between countries through Interpol systems, often go unchecked but can lead to an arrest.
A blue notice issued by Russia alerted U.S. immigration authorities in 2019 about a Russian, Vitaly Bogomazov, living in Florida. Immigration officials arrested him for overstaying his visa. He was awaiting an asylum decision, saying he was the founder of a company that published a newspaper critical of President Vladimir V. Putin.
The blue notice stated that he was wanted for assault and the murder of a man who Russian court records showed was alive. Bogomazov disputed his arrest, saying he was the victim of a “fabricated and politically motivated” investigation, court records show. He lives free in Florida awaiting an immigration decision.
Interpol officials say blue notices receive the same checks as red notices, but not immediately.
Although Interpol has focused on the abuse of red notices, vulnerabilities remain. In December 2020, Abril Meixueiro fled Mexico to her home in Colorado with her young daughter. She had been granted full custody of her after divorcing a man she described as violent.
One night, she recalled, he “beat me for hours.” He filed a police report in Mexico and provided photographs of his bruised face and a blood-stained wall. Police concluded that she was “suffering serious violence” and a judge issued a restraining order against her ex-husband. (In an interview, he said it was an “absolute lie” that he had been abusive.)
Once in the United States, Meixueiro learned that he had filed a child abduction charge against him and that Interpol had issued a red notice at the request of police in Mexico.
Interpol spokesman Heath said stopping child abduction was an appropriate use of Interpol databases. But he said that The agency was “concerned about the circumstances of this case” and would investigate.
Interpol removed Meixueiro's data from their systems, but she does not fly to avoid being flagged by Interpol and sent back to Mexico.
“I'm on the red list with all these horrible people, serial killers and drug dealers,” he said. “Not him, he was prosecuted for domestic violence.”
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