Interpol has recognized that the Russian Federation is persecuting Ukrainian theater director Yevhen Lavrenchuk for political reasons, Commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine for Human Rights Liudmyla Denisova said.

According to the press service of the Ombudsman's Office, the National Police of Ukraine appealed to Interpol to clarify the legality of the use of the Interpol information system by the Russian Federation, in particular, by abusing Interpol tools and capabilities in the prosecution of Lavrenchuk.

"According to the information received from the National Police of Ukraine, information about the citizen of Ukraine Yevhen Lavrenchuk, which was processed in the Interpol records at the request of the National Central Bureau of Interpol in the Russian Federation, was deleted due to their inconsistency with the provisions of Article 3 of the Interpol Statute, according to which it is strictly prohibited to carry out any interference or activity of a political, military, religious or racial nature," a message posted on the telegram channel says.

The Ombudsman's Office also noted that during the court session in Naples on January 27, Lavrenchuk's lawyers filed a petition for the cancellation of house arrest and granting him permission to travel to Ukraine, since there are no grounds for further detention in connection with the removal of Interpol statements about him from the registers. The Naples City Court refused to satisfy the claims, explaining that the process of verifying the arguments of the Russian Federation, which sent the extradition materials, has already begun in court. Therefore, at this stage it is impossible to terminate the consideration, since a court decision must be made.

The court granted a deadline of 30 days, during which the prosecutor's office of Naples should study the materials received from the Russian Federation and inform about its vision of this issue: whether there are grounds for the extradition of Lavrenchuk to Russia. After that, the court will make an appropriate decision.

As reported, Lavrenchuk was detained in Naples, through which he was flying transit from Tel Aviv to Lviv, and since December 17 has been in an Italian pretrial detention center in connection with Russia's request for his extradition. The Consulate General of Ukraine in Naples provides him with consular assistance.

The Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights Liudmyla Denisova reported that Lavrenchuk was detained not on the basis of establishing a "red card", as is usually done in the practice of cooperation with Interpol, but by presenting a circular message, the distribution of which is limited to certain countries, which indicates Russia's abuse of the Interpol charter and its misuse as a tool of hybrid warfare for politically motivated persecution of Ukrainians.

According to Denisova, Russia accuses Lavrenchuk, who lived, studied and worked in Moscow from 1998 to 2014, of "financial violations" that he allegedly committed eight years ago. Russian media, citing the Tagansky Court of Moscow, say that Lavrenchuk was arrested in absentia in July 2020 on charges of large-scale fraud, but do not disclose details.

In 2014, the director left the Russian Federation in protest against military aggression, after which he worked as the chief director of the Odesa Opera and Ballet Theater for three years, and also had other projects in various theaters.