Interpol arrest warrants (Red Notices) and Turkey

8.9.2017

Question for oral answer O-000072/2017
to the Council
Rule 128
Judith Sargentini, Bodil Valero, Rebecca Harms, Jordi Solé, Josep-Maria Terricabras, Barbara Lochbihler, Eva Joly, Jan Philipp Albrecht, Jean Lambert, Ulrike Lunacek, on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group

In August 2017, Spanish police detained two critical journalists with dual Swedish/Turkish citizenship and German/Turkish citizenship respectively, following an Interpol notice issued by Turkey.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (in resolution 2161 (2017)) noted that Interpol’s Red Notice system has been abused by some countries to repress freedom of expression or to persecute members of the political opposition beyond their borders.

It is therefore important to have proper safeguards for human rights defenders and legitimate activists against the potential abuse of Interpol notices.

EU Member States apply different norms: some Member States refuse to act when receiving an Interpol notice, while others execute the arrest.

– What is the Council doing to ensure that the rights of EU and third-country citizens are not breached through the use of Interpol data by the EU Member States?

– Is the Council aware of any mechanism in place to ensure an automatic exchange of information between Member States when at least one Member State expresses strong doubts about the legitimacy, necessity and proportionality of an Interpol notice?

– Is the Council planning to harmonise the norms and practices at national level regarding how police authorities should react when receiving an Interpol notice, such as a mandatory judicial review before a detention is carried out on the basis of an Interpol notice?