Submission of Legal Appeals to Interpol on behalf of Bill Browder

On 2 January 2024 the trial of Jimmy Lai took an unexpected twist when prosecutors in Hong Kong publicly accused Bill Browder, who spearheads the Global Magnitsky Campaign, of colluding with the accused in Mr Lai’s trial. In a highly politically charged case Mr Lai, the founder of Apple Daily, is accused under sweeping national security laws recently introduced by China of publishing seditious articles and conspiring with foreign forces to compromise national security. [1]

Red Notice Monitor can now confirm that Mr Browder’s lawyer, editor Ben Keith, have filed a request with the Commission for the Control of INTERPOL’s Files (CCF) asking Interpol not to act on any diffusions, alerts or Red Notices issued against him by the Hong Kong authorities.

Interpol’s constitution prohibits the organisation from any form of political activity. The letter of representations points out that the accusations against Mr Browder are widely viewed as politically motivated, especially given their timing during Mr Lai’s ongoing trial. It refers to statements from the UK Government, EU authorities, the US State Department, US Congress and numerous human rights organisations criticising the political and arbitrary nature of Jimmy Lai’s trial.

Interpol has been asked to confirm publicly that no data about Mr Browder is stored or processed, and to block proactively any related requests, including those from the Hong Kong and Russian authorities, who might misuse Interpol’s communication channels. Russian authorities have repeatedly attempted to misuse those channels against Mr Browder.

No response has been received from Interpol since the letter was submitted to the CCF on 11 January 2024.

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[1] https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/18/jimmy-lai-trial-hong-kong-updates-media-democracy-advocate