Poland has detained Aysoltan Niyazova, a member of Russian anti-Putin protest group Pussy Riot, after she entered the country from Lithuania. The authorities say they were required to do so as she is the subject of an Interpol red notice issued by Turkmenistan, and are now considering her extradition.
Niyazova, who is a Russian-Turkmen dual national, was taken into custody and placed in a detention centre on Saturday morning, according to Lucy Shtein, a fellow Pussy Riot member, who shared a video on social media of the incident.
Shtein noted that Niyazova was also detained in Croatia in 2022 under the same Interpol notice, before being released a week later. “They’ve been putting this person through this for years just because she’s the daughter of a Turkmen opposition figure,” she added.
[…]
Pussy Riot told Mediazona, an independent Russian media outlet founded by two of the group’s members, that Niyazova is facing “no legal charges” in Turkmenistan and that “her only ‘crime’ is openly opposing one of the most closed dictatorships in the world”.
“We demand her immediate release and call on Polish and European authorities not to extradite her to a regime known for torture, arbitrary detentions and persecution of dissidents,” wrote the group, which rose to international prominence in 2012 after staging a performance in Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Saviour.
[…]
When Niyazova was previously detained in Croatia in 2022, Amnesty International was among the human rights groups that appealed for her not to be extradited to Turkmenistan, saying it would “put her at great risk of suffering serious abuse, including torture and other ill-treatment”.
Amnesty noted that “Interpol warrants have been notoriously abused by a number of authoritarian regimes”, including Turkmenistan’s, which issued its red notice against Niyazova in 2002, accusing her of embezzling funds belonging to the country’s central bank
[…]
If the red notice issued by Turkmenistan had no legs then Turkmenistan should be sanctioned for such shit behavior.
Russia and their client states have been abusing interpol warrants for at least ten years, targeting political dissidents and regime foes, and europe still entertains them as valid on their face.
Why is a country like Turkmenistan able to issue arrest warrants by Interpol that lead to arrests in other countries? That is truly dystopian. Imagine the US issuing your arrest and every European country will try to enforce it.
Authoritarian regimes have been abusing Interpol’s Red Notice system for a long time. In one of their articles, the Red Notice Monitor analyses that Interpol Has a China Problem: How the People’s Republic of China Exploits International Mechanisms
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has weaponized international law enforcement mechanisms, particularly INTERPOL, to target political dissidents, human rights defenders, and critics of its regime. This strategy represents a profound and systemic threat to international law enforcement. The exploitation is emblematic of China’s broader strategy of transnational repression – sophisticated, far-reaching, and deeply troubling.
[Edit typo.]
The same way they’ve done to Assange?
Russia does this to journalists. I met a person that was regularly held in custody because of these red notices. Fuck this bullshit. Let her go.
Yes, and it’s not only Russia. All authoritarian governments are doing this.
not cool, Poland. these girls can’t catch a break
Does pussy riot have time to play shows between arrests?
Everyone trusts the wrong people, including apparently poland’s security services trusting their arch foe Russia’s machinated warrants against their dissidents.
This is not a new thing, over 10 years russia has been putting out interpol warrants on their dissidents and many many countries entertain them even if they do not follow through on extradition.
People trust security services and authorities way more than they should across the board.
Red notice by proxy.
2002? Must have been real young to be embezzling from the main bank.
