One of the primary purposes of a Red Notice is for INTERPOL’s member countries to assist each other in finding Red Notice subjects and extraditing them back to the countries who seek to prosecute or sentence them.

Sometimes, when authorities find a Red Notice subject in their country and alert the original requesting country to his whereabouts, the original requesting country does not take the steps necessary to extradite him. A RNLJ reader provides an example of this situation in his recent inquiry:

“I was arrested and sat in prison for 22 days because of a red notice… but the requesting country didn’t answer and didn’t send any documents to authorities of the country where I was arrested… After this situation, can I be arrested again in the same country? Is there any rule or term of Interpol’s constitution which blocks or ends the red notice in a case where there is no answer or no proceedings from the requesting country?”

We’ll take the questions in turn.

Can I be arrested again in the same country?

When a country ultimately refuses extradition of a detained Red Notice, it is unlikely that the country would release him, only to detain him again for the same proceedings at a later time, unless there is new information available that would make the extradition proceedings successful.

Is there any rule or term of Interpol’s constitution which blocks or ends the red notice in a case where there is no answer or no proceedings from the requesting country?

If a requesting country fails to supply the necessary information to the country where the Red Notice subject has been found, or the extradition is denied for any other reason, INTERPOL typically places an addendum on the Red Notice explaining that the second country denied extradition. If the grounds for extradition refusal are also grounds for a Red Notice’s removal, INTERPOL will remove the Red Notice. Article 82 of INTERPOL’s Rules on the Processing of Data states that a purpose of a Red Notice is to aid in extradition. If the requesting country is not using the notice for that purpose, INTERPOL may decide to remove it.

Because of the fact that flaws in the underlying charges often cause extradition denial, Red Notice subjects in those cases should examine the notice with their attorneys for possible grounds for for removal.