Kremlin critic Bill Browder asks Canada to help kick Russia out of Interpol

One of the Kremlin's most prominent critics is calling on the Canadian government to lead the charge to suspend Russia from the international police organizationInterpol.

In recent days, BillBrowderwho spearheaded the global MagnitskyAct movement to punish Russian officialsresponsible for the death of accountantSergei Magnitskyin aMoscowprison in 2009 has been part of a vocal campaign to stop Russian interior ministry officer Alexander Prokopchuk from becoming Interpol's next president, fearing that country's government would manipulate the job to punishKremlin critics.

In the end, Interpol's general assembly elected South Korea's KimJong-yangas its new leader. He is taking the job after his predecessor,MengHongweiof China,was detained and accused of taking bribes by Chinese anti-corruption authorities in September.

Browder, head of the investment fund Hermitage Capital Management,has dedicated much of his life to exposing corruption inside the Kremlin and avenging Magnitsky's death. He successfully pushedCanada to adopt its ownversion of theMagnitskyAct to target the assets of corrupt officials guilty of gross violations ofhuman rights.

Browder, who renounced his American citizenship and now lives in the U.K., todaytold the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security via teleconferenceabout his experience as the target of multiple 'red notices' Interpol requests for nations to locate and arrest someone pending extradition.

He said he believes that if he were ever extradited back to Russia, he'd likely be tortured and killed.

'All it takes is one country'

"We have Russia, on a serial basis, abusing Interpol ... The moral of this story is that if a country wants to abuse Interpol they can just keep abusing Interpol and itdoesn't really matter how many times they do it," he told the committee.

In an interview withCBCRadio'sThe Househe went further, calling on Canadian politicians to push for Russia's suspension.

"There's a rule in the Interpol constitution which allows Interpol to suspend countries that abuse the system. It's never been used before, he said.

"And what I'm saying to the Canadian Parliament and the Canadian governmentis Canada should lead right now on suspending Russia from the Interpol system, in the same way as Russia was suspended from the Olympics after getting caught cheating.

"All it takes is one country to take the lead here."

Browdersaid hundreds of people around the world, including human rights advocates and lawyers, have been made Interpol targets by Russia, but don't have his resources.

"[Interpol] is meant for law enforcement, not for chasing political enemies. It shouldn't be an arm of a dictatorship," he told host Chris Hallin an interview airing Saturday.

Browder, alongsideRussian chessgrandmasterGarry Kasparov another prominent critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin and MarcusKolga, a senior fellow at theMacdonald-LaurierInstitute's Centre for Advancing Canada's Interests Abroad, were all supposed to take questions from committee members. The meeting was cut short whenMPswere called back to the House of Commonsfor a vote onback-to-work legislation.

Politics vs. policing

Chief Supt. ScottDoranof theRCMP's intelligence and international policing branchtold the committee Canadadoesn't always follow red notices and treats them more as alertsfrom abroad.

"From a Canadian perspective, it is not being used as a political tool," saidDoran. "From a Canadian perspective I'm confident we are being true to the spirit and the constitution of Interpol in our engagements with other central, national bureaus."

While there is a process to suspend one of Interpol's 194 member countries,Doransaid Canada would never take that step lightly.

"I think we need to consider perhaps a difference between the policing community and the political community. Some countries may have issues politically but the reality is we sometimes have an obligation to interact with their police regardless," he said.

Canada did not endorse any candidate before the Interpol presidency vote earlier this week,but Public Safety Minister RalphGoodalesaidRCMPCommissioner BrendaLucki, Canada's representative at the meetings, was "working assiduously" to defend Canada's interests in Interpol.

Earlier this week,RCMPDeputy Commissioner GillesMichaudwas elected to represent the Americas on the executive committee.