After receiving information on the case of Yevhen Lavrenchuk, FIDU wishes to draw the attention of the Italian authorities to the political nature of the extradition request made from the Russian Federation to Italy, and therefore to the high risk of an unfair trial and acts of torture to which Lavrenchuk would be subjected, should extradition be granted.
The case of Yevhen Lavrenchuk is a clear example of the abuse of Interpol mechanisms and extradition procedures by authoritarian regimes, as well as of the obvious difficulties of democratic countries to recognize such abuses in time, in order to ensure adequate protection for people subjected to political persecution. In fact, despite the cancellation by Interpol of the Red Notice issued by the Russian Federation against Mr. Lavrenchuk, and its notification to the Italian authorities, his arrest and the evaluation process of the extradition request are still confirmed by the Italian court.
The case
Lavrenchuk is an Ukrainian citizen, opera director of international fame. He was the founder of the Polish Theatre in Moscow and its director until 2014, when he decided to leave the country after the Russian aggression against Ukraine, precisely because of the pressure he was under for not being in favor of the Russian occupation. Back home, he brilliantly pursued his artistic career in Ukraine, Poland, and Israel, winning several awards. Because of his notoriety and his positions on the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, Lavrenchuk has already been subjected to pressure and threats from the Russian Federation. When he was still living in Russia, he was accused by the ‘Council of Elders’ (an advisory body to the mayor’s office) of the Russian city of Tomsk of “homosexuality propaganda”, which is banned in Russia by an inauspicious law passed in 2013.
Lavrenchuk was arrested last 17th December in Naples, following the arrest warrant issued by the Russian Federation on 10th July 2020 for the execution of a precautionary measure on general charges of ‘large-scale fraud’, for which a sentence of up to ten years’ imprisonment is provided; the arrest was ordered and validated, on the basis of the request (Red Notice) entered in the Interpol search system, while Lavrenchuk was in Naples for a stopover. Since his arrest and until the last 20th January, Lavrenchuk was detained at Poggioreale. It was only on 7th January, following a legal review that the Interpol General Secretariat reported that the data entered in the international search by Russia did not comply with Article 3 of the Interpol Statute (any activity or intervention in matters or affairs with political, military, religious or racial implications is strictly prohibited by the Organisation). Therefore, Yevhen Lavrenchuk’s account information and Red Notice were deleted from the Interpol database. The cancellation was immediately communicated to the Ministry of the Interior and subsequently, with an order of 20 January, Lavrenchuk was placed under house arrest by the Court of Appeal of Naples. In the meantime, the Russian Federation submitted an extradition request to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 19 January. Lavrenchuk still remains under house arrest in Naples, awaiting a court decision on extradition, despite Interpol’s removal of the Red Notice because abusive.
Inadmissibility of extradition
International law prohibits extradition in cases of political persecution, as well as when there is a risk that the person in question may be tortured and subject to an unfair trial. This is stated in the UN Convention against Torture, the UN Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, the European Convention on Human Rights, the European Convention on Extradition, the European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters, as well as in Article 26 of the Italian Constitution.
The Russian Federation is responsible for 38% of all public Red Notices and it is widely recognizes that these mechanisms are used by Russia to persecute its dissidents abroad. The cancellation of the Red Notice by Interpol leaves no doubt on the political nature of the extradition request by the Russian Federation. This represents a serious and precise element of the manipulation of the request for arrest, since it is animated by the aim to persecute the person on the basis of his nationality and political opinions; the abuse of the mechanism of the Red Notices and the consequent extradition procedure by authoritarian regimes is an issue on which FIDU has repeatedly raised the alarm. Furthermore, FIDU has been among the organizations that have launched a global campaign for a reform of Interpol, following the recommendations of the European Parliament and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. Recently, on the occasion of the Interpol General Assembly, FIDU together with the Arrested Lawyers Initiative sponsored a resolution adopted by 64 human rights organizations and civil society leaders, including renowned activists, experts, and parliamentarians, denouncing the abuses of Interpol mechanisms by authoritarian regimes, in particular China, the Russian Federation, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Moldova and Turkey, and calling for urgent reform.
Between 2017 and 2022, the European Parliament and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe published several reports on the abuse of Interpol and extradition procedure. The latest, in which the FIDU-sponsored resolution is mentioned, is dated 1st February.