Statement by the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine A. Avakov on the latest one in series of provocations made by the Russian Federation using Interpol tools
The Russian Federation is constantly abusing the tools of the International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO) Interpol for the unlawful prosecution in other countries worldwide against our citizens who opposed the armed hybrid aggression of the Russian Federation in the Crimea, and on the territory of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, protecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.
Another provocation has been committed by Russian law enforcement agencies against Ukrainian citizen S. Melnychuk, a former Ukrainian deputy who was detained while crossing the Greek-Bulgarian border on trumped-up charges of alleged involvement in the assassination in the April 2014 in the Rostov region of the Russian Federation.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine and the Interpol National Central Bureau (NCB) of the National Police of Ukraine declare that it is inadmissible to abuse the ICPO Interpol tools in accordance with Article 3 of the Constitution of this organization, which prohibits politically motivated persecution of persons.
An active work is continued through the diplomatic channels in order to enable Ukrainian citizen S. Melnychuk to return home.
At the same time, the General Secretariat of the ICPO Interpol, after an application made by Interpol NCB in Ukraine, has decided to revise the Russian Federation request on detention and tracing of S. Melnychuk to verify its legal validity and compliance with Article 3 of the Constitution of the organization.
As the Minister of Internal Affairs, I have appealed to the Secretary General of ICPO Interpol, Mr. Jürgen Stock, on the need to develop an effective mechanism to block abusing of rights committed by the Russian Federation as a member state of the organization.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine recalls that the law enforcement agencies of the Russian Federation have repeatedly abused the tools and capabilities of Interpol in relation to citizens of Ukraine, particularly, such political figures as Anatoly Hritsenko, Mustafa Jemilev, Refat Chubarov, Ihor Mazur and others. In all these cases, there was a politically motivated persecution, which is inadmissible in accordance with Article 3 of the Constitution of ICPO Interpol.
In total, in recent years, due to the timely intervention of the National Police of Ukraine, it has been possible to prevent the illegal restriction of the rights of about 30 of our compatriots whom the law-enforcement bodies of the Russian Federation attempted to detain on the territory of other member countries of the ICPO Interpol.
