FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Detention of Former INTERPOL Files Chief in Dubai Sparks Global Alarm Over Corruption and Immunity
Radha Stirling: “Pîrlog’s arrest exposes a system rotting from the top. INTERPOL must no longer be above the law.”
20 June 2025 — Dubai and Lyon
The reported detention of Vitalie Pîrlog, former Chairman of INTERPOL’s Commission for the Control of Files (CCF), in Dubai, has triggered renewed international alarm over structural corruption, political manipulation, and a dangerous lack of accountability within INTERPOL.
Radha Stirling, Interpol expert and founder of IPEX (Interpol and Extradition Reform and Due Process International, says the arrest highlights a disturbing trend in which INTERPOL’s highest officials, those responsible for upholding justice, are themselves accused of abusing power for personal or political gain.
“Vitalie Pîrlog was in charge of the very committee meant to prevent political persecution and wrongful Red Notices,” Stirling said. “Now, he is suspected of selling access to that system. This is a betrayal not just of INTERPOL’s mission, but of every individual who has been victimised by the misuse of its tools.”
Pîrlog’s alleged involvement in corrupt Red Notice deletions comes after several other high-level scandals. In 2018, INTERPOL President Meng Hongwei was detained and later imprisoned in China. In 2021, INTERPOL appointed Ahmed Naser Al-Raisi, a senior Emirati official accused of torture, as President, despite multiple criminal complaints filed against him across Europe.
“Three top officials in just a few years, each linked to credible allegations of abuse, corruption, or human rights violations,” Stirling said. “INTERPOL has become a revolving door for authoritarians who view the organisation as a tool to consolidate power and settle scores.”
Most concerning, Stirling notes, is that INTERPOL operates under sweeping immunity agreements, which shield the organisation and its staff from prosecution or civil litigation. “This is an institution with global policing powers and zero legal accountability,” she said. “Its decisions can destroy lives, yet no one can be held to account when those powers are abused.”
Through her work at Due Process International and IPEX, Stirling has represented hundreds of clients who were wrongly targeted by INTERPOL Red Notices and Diffusions, often issued at the request of authoritarian regimes seeking to silence dissidents, harass businesspeople, or punish asylum seekers.
“INTERPOL has become a tool for transnational repression, extortion, and persecution,” she said. “It is used by its member states not to combat crime, but to bully, harass and intimidate. And the global public has no remedy when that system fails.”
IPEX and Due Process International are calling for the immediate lifting of INTERPOL’s global immunity, to allow for legal accountability and independent investigation of abuse. The organisations are also urging the creation of an external oversight body to review leadership appointments and safeguard against politically motivated misuse.
“This is not just a problem with one official or one regime,” Stirling said. “It is a structural crisis. INTERPOL must be brought back under the rule of law. That starts with lifting its immunity and ending the culture of impunity.”
