Gagrule.net

Gagrule.net News, Views, Interviews worldwide

  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • GagruleLive
  • Armenia profile

Interpol breaks up organized crime network involving Armenians

July 5, 2018 By administrator

Spanish police and Interpol announced smashing an organized crime network, which also involved Armenians.

Overall, 129 people, most of them Armenian, were arrested on suspicion of crimes including possession of weapons and stolen jewelry, AP reported quoting Interpol’s statement.

The arrests were made Spain and France, with more than 70 properties raided during an operation.

Those detained included several high-ranking members of the international gang. Police of France and Georgia were also involved in the operation.

 

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: interpol, organized-crime

Baku’s Interpol abuse Alert Silences Opposition Journalist Abroad

October 19, 2017 By administrator

Ron Synovitz

KYIV — Rights activists are criticizing the arrest in Ukraine of an Azerbaijani opposition journalist on the basis of an Interpol alert that was requested by Azerbaijan’s government.

International media freedom and human rights groups say Fikret Huseynli’s case highlights how Interpol is abused by authoritarian regimes to crack down on their political opponents abroad.

They describe Huseynli’s arrest as the latest in a series of cases outside of Azerbaijan targeting journalists and rights activists who are critical of the government in Baku.

Huseynli, a self-exiled reporter who formerly worked for Azerbaijan’s opposition Azadliq newspaper, fled to the Netherlands after he was stabbed, beaten, and left for dead by unknown assailants in Baku in 2006.

Azadliq has said the attack was retaliation for its reports about alleged government corruption in Baku.

Huseynli was granted political asylum by the Dutch government when he arrived there in early 2008 and has since obtained Dutch citizenship.

Huseynli now works from his adopted home for the Turan Information Agency, a Baku-based news website that is among the last opposition news organizations not to have been shut down by President Ilham Aliyev’s government.

Red-Notice Detention

Huseynli was detained at Boryspil International Airport near Kyiv on October 14 as he was preparing to board a flight for Germany.

Ukraine’s Border Guard Service said it arrested Huseynli because his name appeared on Interpol’s database of wanted persons.

The “red-notice” alert from Interpol informed Ukrainian police that Baku had issued warrants for Huseynli’s arrest on charges of alleged fraud, falsification of official documents, and illegal migration.

On October 17, a local court in Boryspil ruled that Huseynli should remain in custody at least until November 4 while judicial officials in Kyiv consider the merits of Baku’s extradition request.

On October 19, the Prosecutor-General’s Office in Kyiv confirmed that it was examining the Azerbaijani arrest warrants as part of its “extradition test.”

“We have up to 60 days to complete this examination,” the prosecutor-general’s spokeswoman, Larysa Sarhan, told RFE/RL.

A date for an extradition hearing has not yet been set, Sarhan said.

Huseynli’s defense attorney, Dmytro Mazurok, told RFE/RL he will appeal the Boryspil court’s arrest order against Huseynli.

Mazurok said he also will ask the Ukrainian Prosecutor-General’s Office to use its powers to nullify the ruling on the grounds that “circumstances should prevent” Huseynli’s extradition to Azerbaijan.

Interpol System Abused?

Washington-based Freedom House says Ukraine should immediately release Huseynli and stop any extradition procedures against him that are based on warrants issued by Azerbaijan.

The director of Freedom House’s Eurasia programs, Marc Behrendt, says Interpol’s alert “reflects Azerbaijan’s harassment of journalists rather than any actual criminal offense” by Huseynli.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/azerbaijan-ukraine-interpol-alert-huseynli-baku-abuse/28804385.html?ltflags=mailer

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: abuse, Alert, Baku's, interpol

Interpol approves Palestine’s membership despite Israeli opposition

September 27, 2017 By administrator

The International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) has voted for the full membership of Palestine in the world’s biggest police organization, in a new diplomatic blow to Israel and the US, which were firmly opposed to the move.

Palestine’s membership bid was approved at the Interpol’s annual General Assembly in the Chinese capital, Beijing, on Wednesday.

“The State of Palestine and the Solomon Islands are now Interpol member countries,” the organization tweeted on Wednesday.

The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) also said in a post on Twitter that more than 75 percent of Interpol members had supported Palestine’s membership.

“This victory was made possible because of the principled position of the majority of Interpol members,” Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki said in a statement.

He also reiterated Palestine’s “commitment to upholding its obligations and contributing to fighting crime and furthering the rule of law.”

Wednesday’s vote came despite efforts by Israel to thwart the move. The US administration was also against the Palestinian membership bid and helped the Israeli lobby opposed to it.

A Palestinian bid to join Interpol failed last year, winning Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s praise.

Interpol facilitates international police cooperation. Israel fears that Palestine’s membership would lead the organization to issue arrest warrants against Israeli politicians and military officials.

In November 2012, the United Nations General Assembly voted to upgrade Palestine’s status from “non-member observer entity” to “non-member observer state” despite strong opposition from Israel.

Since then, Palestine has joined dozens of international organizations and agreements, among them the International Criminal Court and UNESCO.

Palestine’s flag was hoisted for the first time at the UN Headquarters in New York in September 2015.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: interpol, Palestine's membership

Turkey abuse of interpol triggered question, Interpol: Who polices the world’s police?

August 21, 2017 By administrator

The controversial arrest of German author Dogan Akhanli by Spanish authorities on an Interpol warrant issued by Turkey has triggered questions about the international policing agency’s modus operandi.

A dimly-lit street, rain glistening off the cobbles. A man in a long overcoat, collar turned up, takes a furtive look and a last drag of his cigarette before melting into the shadows. Okay, so maybe I’ve watched too many spy movies, but it’s the kind of scene that springs to mind when you hear or read the words International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol).

Early days

Interpol was born out of frustration that criminals on the run were able to evade capture by moving from one country to the next

The concept of an international policing organization first popped up in April 1914, at the First International Congress of Judicial Police in Monaco. Leading criminal investigators were frustrated that criminals were increasingly able to evade capture by simply leaving the country, taking advantage of the burgeoning “progress of automobilism, even aviation.” A global approach to tackle the problem was needed: “The internationalism of crime should be opposed by the internationalism of repression.”

Read more: Spain releases Dogan Akhanli, German author detained on Turkish warrant

World War I threw a temporary spanner in the works, but in 1923 at the Second Judicial Police Congress, the International Criminal Police Commission – a forerunner of Interpol – was set up in Vienna. According to its founding statutes, it operated “to the strict exclusion of all matters having a political, religious or racial character.” It had no legal authority over member states, and existed merely to collect and catalog intelligence, and coordinate communication between different international police forces.

What does it do?

To keep Interpol as politically neutral as possible, its charter forbids it – or at least that’s the idea – from carrying out its own arrests or intervening in political, military, religious, or racial issues. Instead, the organization works in the background, collecting intelligence and coordinating and facilitating police efforts to combat anything from terrorism, war crimes and drug trafficking to child pornography and corruption.

Interpol, based in Lyon these days, has an annual budget of around 78 million euros ($91 million), most of which is provided through annual contributions by its 190 member countries. The entire staff, mostly international civil servants and police on loan from national police forces, is roughly 650 people.

One of Interpol’s key tools in fighting international crime is to issue color-coded notices to communicate information about crimes and criminals. The most powerful of these is the so-called red notice – which is the “closest instrument to an international arrest warrant in use today.” At the touch of a button, information about any given internationally sought criminal is disseminated to 190 police forces around the world. What at first glance appears to be an effective method to track down criminals in far-flung places is not without controversy, especially where authoritarian regimes are concerned. The European Commission, human rights group and others criticize that when authoritarian regimes request red notices against political opponents, Interpol is all too happy to oblige without necessarily carrying out full background checks. As a result, there have been several instances where dissidents, human-rights activists and journalists have reportedly been held for months in prisons before it is established that the charges against them are insubstantial or even bogus.

Read more: Interpol releases list of 173 potential IS bombers who could be in Europe

A key criticism leveled at Interpol is that there is no external scrutiny of its operations. The agency’s General Assembly that meets once a year is made up of policing experts – effectively people who are in the same line of work as their colleagues on the ground. Its majority-voting system means that even if a member state voices an objection to a case, its complaints can be ignored.

Interpol isn’t accountable to any outside court or body, and it is not obliged to share any data with anyone other than its own police members and its own appeals body. Its operations are deliberately opaque in the name of protecting law enforcement information. In a nutshell: If Interpol breaks its own rules, there is no one there to hold it accountable.

Contrast that with Europol, also an international organization for coordinating police work, but one founded on the European Community method. The European Parliament approves the budget and has a role in senior appointments, so there is parliamentary scrutiny on behalf of the citizens. The European Court of Justice has been given oversight of Europol, so there is judicial scrutiny as well.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: interpol, question, Turkey

Interpol rejects Azerbaijani request for arrest warrant against MEP

July 13, 2017 By administrator

European Parliament for visiting Nagorno Karabakh, Radio Prague reports.International police cooperation agency Interpol has rejected a request by Azerbaijan for an international arrest warrant to be served on a Czech Member of the European Parliament for visiting Nagorno Karabakh, Radio Prague reports.

Interpol refused to arrest of MEP Jaromír Štětina following a request from authorities in Azerbaijan.

The move followed a visit by the MEP to Karabakh in February during which Štětina denounced moves by authorities in Azerbaijan.

They said his comments helped fuel tension in the region.

The Czech said the demand for an arrest warrant was aimed at scaring off international experts and commentators against speaking out against the Baku government.

Previously, a Russian-Israeli blogger was arrested in Belarus on Baku’s request. Alexander Lapshin, who divided his time in several countries, was arrested for visiting Karabakh and condemning the Azerbaijani authorities.

Related links:

Radio.cz: Интерпол отказал Азербайджану в объявлении чешского евродепутата Яромира Штетину в розыск

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Azerbaijani, interpol, Rejects

Armenia police: Lapshin has never been on Interpol’s wanted list

February 10, 2017 By administrator

lapshin-never-interpol

YEREVAN. – Blogger Alexander Lapshin, who was extradited to Azerbaijan, has never been on Interpol’s wanted list.

Advisor to the  Chief of Armenian Police, Narek Malyan, wrote the aforementioned on his Facebook page.

“In response to the inquiry of the Republic of Armenia Police, the General Secretariat of Interpol today responded that Alexander Lapshin has neither ever been registered nor put on an international wanted list of Interpol,” he noted.

After his visits to Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) in 2011 and 2012, Alexander Lapshin was “blacklisted” by Azerbaijan. In June 2016, however, he paid a visit to Azerbaijan, but with a Ukrainian passport. Subsequently, he issued several articles criticizing the Azerbaijani authorities. Afterward, the Azerbaijani authorities issued an international search for this famous blogger. And on December 15, 2016, he was detained in the Belarus capital city of Minsk, and based on this international search.

On January 26, the Minsk city court dismissed the complaint of blogger Alexander Lapshin over the decision of the Belarusian prosecutor’s office to extradite him to Azerbaijan.

The Supreme Court of Belarus on Tuesday dismissed the complaints filed in the case of blogger Alexander Lapshin.

According to the experts and human rights defenders, Lapshin’s case may become a horrible precedent limiting the freedom of speech of foreigners and freedom of movement of Armenian citizens.

Blogger Alexander Lapshin was brought to Baku Tuesday evening.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Armenia, Blogger, interpol, Lapshin

Turkey-bound ships take militants to Iraq, Syria: Interpol

November 7, 2014 By administrator

385091_Turkey-ISILInterpol says terrorists use cruise ships to get to countries including Turkey to join Takfiri groups in Syria and Iraq.

Foreign terrorists are increasingly going to Turkey through booking tickets on cruise ships to join Takfiri groups in neighboring Syria and Iraq, Interpol has warned.

“Because they know the airports are monitored more closely now, there’s a use of cruise ships to travel to those areas,” Pierre St. Hilaire, the director of counterterrorism at Interpol, said on Thursday.

He added that the international police body has evidence that “the individuals, especially in Europe, are traveling mostly to [the Turkish coastal town of] Izmit and other places to engage in this type of activity.”

Turkey has come under international criticism for allowing thousands of foreign terrorists to join Takfiri groups such as ISIL, which has captured large areas across Iraq and Syria.

“It’s a global threat — 15,000 fighters or more from 81 countries traveling to one specific conflict zone,” St. Hilaire said.

He noted that some 300 militants from China have joined terrorist groups fighting in Syria and Iraq.

Speaking at an Interpol meeting in Monaco this week, Interpol Secretary General Ronald K. Noble confirmed that Turkey was a destination for the terrorists.

The outgoing Interpol chief also called on countries to step up screening at “airports and, more and more, cruise lines” to halt the flow of terrorists to the war-torn countries.

“Originally, our concern about people on cruise ships — dangerous people on cruise ships — really focused on the classic sort of rapist, burglar, or violent criminal,” Noble said.

Interpol has “realized that there are more and more reports that people are using cruise ships in order to get to launch pads, if you will — sort of closer to the conflict zones — of Syria and Iraq,” he noted.

Many European countries have called on Turkey to tighten its border to block the entry of recruits from European countries into Syria. They have expressed concern that home-grown terrorists will return home with skills to carry out terror attacks.

The Takfiri ISIL terrorists currently control parts of eastern Syria and Iraq’s northern and western regions. They have committed heinous crimes and threatened all communities, including Shias, Sunnis, Kurds, Christians and Izadi Kurds, during their advances in Iraq.

 

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: interpol, ISIL, ISIS, Turkey

Support Gagrule.net

Subscribe Free News & Update

Search

GagruleLive with Harut Sassounian

Can activist run a Government?

Wally Sarkeesian Interview Onnik Dinkjian and son

https://youtu.be/BiI8_TJzHEM

Khachic Moradian

https://youtu.be/-NkIYpCAIII
https://youtu.be/9_Xi7FA3tGQ
https://youtu.be/Arg8gAhcIb0
https://youtu.be/zzh-WpjGltY





gagrulenet Twitter-Timeline

Tweets by @gagrulenet

Archives

Books

Recent Posts

  • Armenia: Letter from the leader of the Sacred Struggle, political prisoner Bagrat Archbishop Galstanyan
  • U.S. Judge Dismisses $500 Million Lawsuit By Azeri Lawyer Against ANCA & 29 Others
  • These Are the Social Security Offices Expected to Close This Year, Musk call SS Ponzi Scheme
  • Breaking News, Pashinyan regime has filed charges against public figure Edgar Ghazaryan,
  • ANCA’s Controversial Endorsement: Implications for Armenian Voters

Recent Comments

  • administrator on Turkish Agent Pashinyan will not attend the meeting of the CIS Council of Heads of State
  • David on Turkish Agent Pashinyan will not attend the meeting of the CIS Council of Heads of State
  • Ara Arakelian on A democratic nation has been allowed to die – the UN has failed once more “Nagorno-Karabakh”
  • DV on A democratic nation has been allowed to die – the UN has failed once more “Nagorno-Karabakh”
  • Tavo on I’d call on the people of Syunik to arm themselves, and defend your country – Vazgen Manukyan

Copyright © 2025 · News Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in