Russia may be thrown out of INTERPOL after using sham warrant to detain American critic

Russia may be suspended from INTERPOL, an international criminal justice compact that allows for international arrests, after using a sham warrant to cause a prominent American-born critic to be detained, The Telegraph reports.

Last week, the Russians used the system to cause Spanish police to detain Bill Browder, an American-born British financier who started a campaign for sanctions against Russian after his lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, was found dead in a Russian prison in 2009. He successfully campaigned for a law named after his lawyer and friend which froze the assets of the Russians involved—watch the below video interview with Joy Reid to hear the story.

Now, Russia is stepping up attacks on its critics—prompting several top members of British parliament to write a letter calling for the country to be suspended or expelled.

"Russia are abusing this system in pursuit of Bill Browder. He is a British citizen and it is time the British Government held Interpol to account for failures such as were exposed in Spain last week," one letter reads.

Browder was arrested and then released after Interpol found the Russian paperwork invalid. Browder is barred from Russia who says he is a threat to "national security" and was convicted of tax evasion in absentia.