We use cookies where necessary to allow us to understand how people interact with our website and content, so that we can continue to improve our service.
We only ever receive anonymous information, and cannot track you across other websites.
View our privacy policy
Cristian González Ruiz, Associate at IHR Advisors, will speak on a panel titled Countering Transnational Financial Repression on 4 July 2026. The panel is a side event of the 33rd OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Annual Session, held at the World Forum in The Hague. Its subject is the weaponisation of INTERPOL, anti-money-laundering rules, and cybersecurity law by states that reach across their own borders to pursue critics. Mauro Del Barba, a member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies and the Italian Delegation to the OSCE PA, hosts the session with the Open Dialogue Foundation and the Economic Inclusion Group.
The discussion brings together parliamentarians, former officials, economists and lawyers. Speakers include:
Transnational financial repression includes, among other issues, the deliberate misuse of anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorism-financing rules, cybersecurity laws, mutual legal assistance treaties and INTERPOL channels by states seeking to silence, surveil and economically coerce people who live beyond their reach. It is quieter than an arrest and often harder to challenge. A frozen bank account rarely comes with a court hearing.
The targets are not confined to activists. They include serving and former officials of EU and NATO states, parliamentarians, judges, scientists, entrepreneurs and the donors who keep independent civil society alive. When a Red Notice or a politically driven money-laundering charge attaches to a name, the damage spreads. Banks close accounts. Business partners walk away. A reputation built over decades can be spent in a week.
We act for people caught in exactly this kind of cross-border pressure. Our INTERPOL practice challenges abusive Red Notices and Diffusions before the Commission for the Control of INTERPOL’s Files, and we advise on the extradition and mutual legal assistance routes that repressive states try to turn against their critics. Where sanctions or financial measures are used as instruments of coercion, our sanctions team advises on removal and redress.
Cristian brings direct experience of international criminal and financial crime work, including time at the International Criminal Court and complex corporate cases, to a panel that sits where INTERPOL abuse meets human rights law.
Date: Saturday 4 July 2026
Time: 12:30 to 14:30
Venue: Mississippi Room, 1st Floor, World Forum, The Hague
Format: Panel discussion and Q&A, followed by a light lunch
Our thanks to Mauro Del Barba, the Open Dialogue Foundation and the Economic Inclusion Group for convening the discussion, held alongside the 33rd OSCE PA Annual Session.
If you are facing an abusive Red Notice or a politically motivated prosecution, contact us in confidence.
If you would like to speak with us about our areas of practice or anything else please contact us via the form linked below.
Contact Us
Rhys Davies and Ben Keith write for Newsweek on 13 April 2023
Ben Keith at House of Lords: Transnational Repression of Journalists