Kremlin has campaigner who wants to advise Jersey arrested

Kremlin has campaigner who wants to advise Jersey arrested

British-American businessman Bill Browder, who describes himself as Vladimir Putin’s number one enemy, was released shortly afterwards following intervention from Interpol’s secretary general, Jürgen Stock, who is based in Lyon, France.

Mr Browder has said that he intends to visit Jersey to advise the government on introducing new laws targeting the wealth of human rights abusers with links to the Kremlin through asset-freeze orders.

Yesterday at 8.31 am, the anti-corruption campaigner wrote on his Twitter account that the Russian government had requested Interpol to issue a ‘Red Notice’ warrant for his arrest, which he claims is the sixth time they have ‘abused’ the organisation’s powers in doing so.

Mr Browder tweeted a picture from the back seat of a Spanish police car shortly after his arrest. Less than two hours later, however, he posted another Tweet explaining that he had been released.

‘Good news. Spanish National Police just released me after Interpol General Secretary in Lyon advised them not to honor the new Russian Interpol Red Notice [international arrest warrant],’ he wrote.

‘This is the 6th time that Russia has abused Interpol in my case.’

UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson tweeted that he was ‘very glad’ that Mr Browder had been released.

The former financier, who worked in Moscow for a decade, has exposed corruption in the Russian government and lobbied the US Congress to pass the ‘Magnitsky Act’ in 2012, following the alleged torture and murder of his friend and lawyer Sergei Magnitsky in a Russian prison.

The act imposed sanctions, including asset freezes and bans on dealing with US companies, on a number of human rights abusers, including those implicated in Mr Magnitsky’s death.

The UK government recently passed similar legislation and is expected at some stage to issue its own list of sanctioned individuals.

Mr Browder has said that he is happy to advise Jersey’s government on introducing its own ‘Magnitsky amendment’ to its new asset forfeiture laws, claiming that the Island’s role as an international finance centre means it could make a serious impact on the wealth held by Russian oligarchs guilty of human rights abuses.

Mr Browder is the author of the best-selling book Red Notice, which is an account of his dealings in Moscow and the events leading up to Mr Magnitsky’s death.

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