HomeClearing an INTERPOL Record in a Theft Case Originating from Russia
Client Background
A Ukrainian national who had been working as a welder in Moscow in 2015 was placed on INTERPOL’s international wanted list at Russia’s request. He was accused of stealing goods worth approximately 42,000 rubles (around €630) from a warehouse, allegedly acting in collusion with another person. Despite being detained on several occasions in different countries, extradition was consistently refused.
The Prosecution’s Position
The Russian side maintained that the theft had been carried out under a prior agreement between the accused and insisted on the client’s arrest and extradition for criminal prosecution.
Legal Strategy and Defense
The client’s lawyer built the defense around several key arguments:
- The minor value of the damage, which did not meet the threshold required to justify an international manhunt for a serious offense.
- Prior refusals by courts in Moldova and the Czech Republic to grant extradition, based on an amnesty law and concerns over potential human rights violations.
- The absence of clear and sufficient evidence of the client’s guilt within INTERPOL’s own files.
Outcome
INTERPOL’s Commission reviewed the arguments presented and concluded that retaining the client’s data in its database was excessive and inconsistent with INTERPOL’s own data-processing rules. As a result, the client’s information was deleted from INTERPOL’s database, and access to it was blocked for all member countries.
