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South Korea's Kim Jong Yang has been elected as Interpol's next president, edging out a veteran of Russia's security services who was strongly opposed by the US, Britain and other European nations.
The White House and its European partners had lobbied against Alexander Prokopchuk’s attempts to be named the next president of the policing organisation, saying his election would lead to further Russian abuses of Interpol’s red notice system to go after political opponents.
Mr Prokopchuk is a general in the Russian Interior Ministry and serves as an Interpol vice president.
Mr Kim’s win means he secured at least two-thirds of votes cast at Interpol’s general assembly in Dubai on Wednesday.
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He will serve until 2020, completing the four-year mandate of his predecessor Meng Hongwei, who was detained in China.
Prior to the vote,Michael McFaul, a former US ambassador to Russia, said he could not imagine how a Russian candidate could be seen fit to head Interpol. "Russia has an unimpressive record of practising the rule of law at home and a proven track record of abusing red notices and diffusions for political purposes," he tweeted.
Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a former Russian oil oligarch who now lives in exile in Europe, said he was sure that if Mr Prokopchuk became head of Interpol he would use his position to “serve the interests of the Kremlin” without “concern for his reputation”.
The ballot in Dubai was a secret one in which Ireland was represented by the Garda assistant commissioner Michael O’Sullivan, the force’s head of security and intelligence.
The Department of Justice told The Irish Times it was for the Garda to decide who to vote for.
In reply to queries, Garda headquarters said that “in order to respect the process of electing the interim president of Interpol it would not be appropriate for An Garda Síochána to discuss its voting intention”. - Additional reporting AP