Political Asylum
We are political asylum lawyers and we regularly work with specialist extradition lawyers from leading law firms in London. We are used to developing inter-disciplinary defences for our clients with such teams.
In conversation with extradition and civil litigation practitioners, our team has noticed that certain high-risk jurisdictions with poor human rights records (such as Russia) have focused increasingly on bankrupting targets through vexation litigation and ‘lawfare’ rather than securing the return of the individual through lawful mechanisms. INTERPOL Notices, including the recently implemented Silver Notice Pilot Scheme, are ripe for facilitating such abuse without anxious scrutiny from INTERPOL’s General Secretariat.
A claim for asylum is often at the heart of a coordinated legal approach to defend against state sponsored persecution. Asylum provides the strongest protection in that:
- An asylum claim blocks extradition;
- Asylum claims are conducted within confidential proceedings;
- The UK government is barred by statute from sharing the details of an asylum claim with the alleged persecuting state
- A grant of asylum results in the grant of a United Nations Travel Document, facilitating future international travel insofar as possible;
- Refugee recognition can often assist with remedying some of the reputational damage caused to the victim of the raid; and
- Refugee recognition removes INTERPOL Red and Silver Notices and prohibits their publication[1].
In political asylum cases where financial crime allegations are made, Article 1F of the Refugee Convention must be considered when a High Net Worth individual is being targeted by a state. Article 1F states inter alia that the provisions of the Refugee Convention do not apply where there are serious reasons to consider that an individual:
“has committed a serious non-political crime outside the country of refuge prior to admission to that country as a refugee.”
This begs the question: what is the difference between a bona fide prosecution and what is a trumped up criminal allegation used as a form of political persecution?
Prosecution or Persecution?
Although not always the case, it is no secret that the authorities of various authoritarian regimes around the world have been found to embellish accusations and improperly assert that a crime has been committed in their particular country, thereby seeking the return of one of their nationals to what can only be described as persecutory conduct in direct contravention of the Refugee Convention and Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
At the heart of such matters is the absolute right conferred upon individuals by Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights:
“Everyone is entitled to a fair and public hearing within a reasonable time by an independent and impartial tribunal established by law.”
INTERPOL Notices are often an integral component of what is known as a ‘corporate raid.’ Corporate raids commonly involve a combination of embellished criminal accusations and charges, defamatory press campaigns, harassment of close family members, often with the intention of securing the extradition of the concerned individual back to the requesting country – crucially, without a “fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal”.
This combination of measures by their very nature drastically impede the ability of an individual, whether financially, evidentially or even psychologically, to secure the protection that they seek in the UK.
Historically, Red Notices have been of primary concern to a High-Net Worth individual being targeted by a state. A Red Notice is a request to law enforcement worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender or a related legal action. The publication of one effectively traps an individual and prevents them from travelling whilst their lawyers try and liaise with INTERPOL to explain the true position. Not all Red Notices are published.
Silver Notices however arguably create a new front and are conceivably a new tool for abuse and persecution by high-risk states, who are increasingly focusing on targeting assets rather than trying to extradite and imprison the concerned individual.
States can be vexatious in their approach and, as an illustrative example, Russia has famously published 8 Red Notices and a Diffusion Notice against Bill Browder.
What is a Silver Notice?
In 2015, INTERPOL announced a new Silver Notice, designed to trace and recover alleged proceeds of crime or laundered assets across its member countries. In 2023, INTERPOL announced a two-year pilot scheme to test the operation of its Silver Notice. The Silver Notice has now been formally implemented.
On 10 January 2025, INTERPOL published the details of its first ever Silver Notice. In its own news bulletin as to the purpose of a Silver Notice, INTERPOL states[2]:
“Through Silver Notices, member countries can request information on assets linked to a person’s criminal activities such as fraud, corruption, drug trafficking, environmental crime and other serious offenses. It will facilitate locating, identifying, and obtaining information about laundered assets including properties, vehicles, financial accounts and businesses. Countries may subsequently use such information as a basis for bilateral engagement, including bilateral requests for seizure, confiscation or recovery of assets, subject to national laws.”
The Risks – Improper Silver Notices
The Silver Notice, if made on the basis of false accusations by a high-risk regime such as Russia with improper motives, could be used as an opening salvo and to enable the future appropriation of an individual’s assets, i.e. as part of a corporate raid.
As we mention above, of late, persecuting states have focused more on bankrupting targets through vexatious litigation and ‘lawfare’ rather than making an extradition request for targets. This is likely because they know specialist extradition courts and asylum tribunals will be very alive to a regime’s human rights abuses with a lot of helpful case law to prevent such persecutory actions from being successful.
That is not to say that an INTERPOL Silver Notice cannot be used for its intended and entirely legitimate purpose – but as has been the case with numerous INTERPOL Notices in recent years, the basis upon which they are made is not always as genuine as it may seem at first glance. The INTERPOL Red Notice list for example has been reported as including “political refugees and dissidents” being used as “the long arm of oppressive regimes”[3].
INTERPOL thus must remain alert to similar risks of abuse of the Silver Notice system, particularly with requests made from member countries that are to be considered high-risk, without sufficient credentials demonstrating that they respect the rule of law.
Our Team
Our political asylum lawyers at Payne Hicks Beach are experts in working with clients, their advisors, and specialist INTERPOL lawyers in order to establish a comprehensive strategy from the outset of any INTERPOL Notices being issued. We are well-versed in responding to even the most sophisticated forms of persecution, having successfully represented clients from multiple jurisdictions in securing international protection within the UK.
For further information, please contact Matt Ingham, Partner or Sheroy Zaq , in the Citizen and Immigration department or, alternatively, telephone on 020 7465 4300.
[1] https://www.interpol.int/en/Who-we-are/Legal-framework/INTERPOL-Refugee-Resolution
[2] https://www.interpol.int/en/News-and-Events/News/2025/INTERPOL-publishes-first-Silver-Notice-targeting-criminal-assets
[3] https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/oct/17/has-interpol-become-the-long-arm-of-oppressive-regimes
