International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR), Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law (KIBHR), Freedom for Eurasia (FfE) and Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights (HFHR) are gravely concerned that Yulia Emelyanova and Mansur Movlaev face imminent extradition to Russia following the final rejection of their asylum claims in Kazakhstan. If returned, both would face a real risk of torture and other ill-treatment and, in Movlaev’s case, a threat to his life. IPHR calls on the Kazakhstani authorities to immediately halt both extraditions and release them from detention, in line with the country’s international obligations, in particular the principle of non-refoulement.
The Astana Cassation Court for Administrative Cases upheld earlier decisions to refuse them asylum on 10 September (Mansur Movlaev) and 24 September 2026 (Yulia Emelyanova), respectively. While the Prosecutor General’s Office had already approved Russia’s extradition requests for both of them earlier this year, their extraditions had been suspended pending their asylum appeals. However, following the final rejections, nothing in domestic proceedings now prevents their transfer to Russia.
‘’Kazakhstan must not allow its courts and detention facilities to become instruments of transnational persecution against people who have fled Russia in search of safety. Yulia Emelyanova and Mansur Movlaev would be at serious risk of torture and other grave abuses if returned to Russia. Their extradition would thus violate Kazakhstan’s absolute obligation under international law to uphold the non-refoulement principle. In Movlaev’s case, it would also defy binding interim measures issued by the UN Human Rights Committee,’’ stated the NGOs.
Yulia Emelyanova’s case
Yulia Emelyanova is a Russian pro-democracy activist and former volunteer at Alexei Navalny’s campaign headquarters in St Petersburg. After leaving Russia in July 2022, she continued her civic engagement in exile in Georgia, including with the initiatives Emigration for Action and Just Help. She was detained at Almaty airport on 31 August 2025 while in transit on a flight bound from Georgia to Vietnam, on the basis of an interstate search request issued by Russia. She has now been held in detention in Almaty for over a year.
Russia seeks her extradition on charges of allegedly stealing a mobile phone worth 12,000 roubles (around 120 EUR) from a taxi driver in August 2021. However, Emelyanova denies the charges. Human rights defenders point out that the theft was only reported to the police a month after the alleged incident, and that the case reached court shortly before she left Russia. According to her lawyer, Vadim Drozdov, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Russia, Mariana Katzarova, has described the case as fabricated and linked to Emelyanova’s political views and activities.
The proceedings in Kazakhstan have raised serious due process concerns. The Deputy Prosecutor General approved her extradition while her asylum application was still under consideration, although prosecutors had earlier given assurances that they would wait for that process to end. Emelyanova was also reportedly denied permission to take part remotely in one of the court hearings when her lawyer was unable to attend. Kazakhstan first refused Emelyanova asylum on 26 December 2025, and on 24 September 2026, the Cassation Court in Astana upheld that refusal as the final instance, clearing the way for her extradition. Her lawyer has filed an individual complaint with the UN Human Rights Committee, together with a request for urgent interim measures to prevent her transfer to Russia while the complaint is pending.
Mansur Movlaev’s case
Mansur Movlaev is a Russian national from Chechnya. According to the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Russia, he was previously abducted, arbitrarily detained and tortured by Chechen security forces, before fleeing the country. He has been held in extradition detention in Almaty since May 2025. Russia is seeking his extradition on extortion charges, which he denies. In July 2026, a court extended his detention until 13 January 2027. Kazakhstan refused him refugee status on 26 December 2025, and in January 2026 the Deputy Prosecutor General approved his extradition. The approval relied on Russian assurances that his prosecution allegedly is not political and that he would not be tortured if returned .
On 23 February 2026, the UN Human Rights Committee issued interim measures requesting Kazakhstan not to extradite Movlaev while his complaint is under consideration. In a letter dated 4 September 2026, UN Special Rapporteur Mariana Katzarova concluded that he would face a foreseeable and personal risk of torture and ill-treatment, politically motivated persecution and possible extrajudicial execution if returned. She urged Kazakhstan to reconsider its refusal to grant him protection . However, as mentioned above, on 10 September, the decision to deny Movlaev asylum was finally upheld by the Cassation Court for Administrative Cases in Astana and his extradition is now imminent. According to the Anti-War Committee of Russia, the handover of Movlaev is already being arranged, but the date has not been disclosed.
Following the 10 September ruling, Movlaev reportedly twice attempted to take his own life, reflecting the acute distress caused by the prospect of being returned to Russia.
Extradition as a tool of transnational repression
The cases of Yulia Emelyanova and Mansur Movlaev illustrate how Russia uses extradition and cooperation between law enforcement agencies to pursue critics beyond its borders. In a September 2026 report to the UN Human Rights Council, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Russia Mariana Katzarova found that Russia’s transnational repression is a systematic, state-run strategy. She cited both Emelyanova’s and Movlaev’s cases as examples of Russia using regional legal cooperation mechanisms as part of this strategy. A hallmark of this practice is the use of ordinary criminal charges rather than overtly politically motivated ones.
This allows the Russian authorities to avoid the safeguards that normally protect people who potentially face political persecution, and makes it easier for requested states to justify their cooperation.
Yulia Emelyanova’s case also shows how far these search mechanisms reach. She was not living in Kazakhstan, but was arrested while passing through Almaty airport on a flight between two other countries, solely because Russia had put her on an interstate wanted list. For Russian exiles, a transit stop in a friendly state can be sufficient to put them within reach of the authorities they fled.
Transnational repression also targets those left behind. According to the UN Special Rapporteur, in June 2026 Chechen authorities abducted Movlaev’s parents and tortured his brother to pressure him while he was resisting extradition. Collective punishment of this kind is used to pressure people abroad and to deter others. It is also clear evidence of the danger Movlaev would face if returned.
These are not isolated cases. Lawyers and human rights defenders report growing pressure on Russians in Kazakhstan, with new detentions, handovers and approved extradition requests in early 2026. In two recent examples, Kazakhstan bypassed extradition procedures altogether: Alexander Kachkurkin, who had left Russia in 2022 for political reasons, was deported within hours of being detained for minor administrative offences and arrested for treason on arrival. Semyon Bazhukov, a deserter who was refused asylum, was handed directly to the Russian military police. Lawyers note that Russians facing politically motivated prosecution were previously released once their extradition detention expired, whereas Kazakhstan now increasingly grants Russia’s requests. By acting on such requests, host states become instruments of Russia’s repression beyond its borders.
Kazakhstan’s international obligations As a party to the UN Convention against Torture, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the 1951 Geneva Convention on the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, Kazakhstan must not return anyone to a country where they face a real risk of torture, ill-treatment or other irreparable harm (CAT Article 3; ICCPR Articles 6 and 7, Human Rights Committee General Comment No. 31, para. 12). This prohibition is absolute and applies to everyone, irrespective of their conduct or the charges they face. It cannot be overridden by extradition agreements or by diplomatic assurances from a state with a well documented record of torture and politically motivated persecution of those who criticise and challenge its policies.
Kazakhstan has also accepted the individual complaints procedure under the First Optional Protocol to the ICCPR. It is therefore bound to comply with the Human Rights Committee’s interim measures (Human Rights Committee General Comment No. 33, para. 19), and extraditing Mansur Movlaev in defiance of them would be a serious breach of its obligations.
The NGOs issuing this statement call on the authorities of Kazakhstan to:
● Immediately halt the extradition of Yulia Emelyanova and Mansur Movlaev and
refrain from returning them to Russia by any means, including deportation, in line
with Kazakhstan’s obligations under international law; comply fully with the interim
measures issued by the UN Human Rights Committee;
● Release Yulia Emelyanova and Mansur Movlaev from detention;
● Review their claims for international protection in line with international standards,
or allow them to travel safely to a third country willing to receive them; and
● Refuse to act on extradition requests and interstate search notices where there are
substantial grounds to believe they are politically motivated, and assess every such
request individually against the risk of persecution and torture.
The NGOs issuing this statement also call on Kazakhstan’s international partners,
including the EU and its member states, to:
● Raise the cases of Yulia Emelyanova and Mansur Movlaev urgently with the
Kazakhstani authorities, and urge them to abide by their international commitments
on non-refoulement;
● Urgently explore options for their safe relocation to third countries; and
● Recognise extradition based on pretextual charges as a form of transnational
repression, and address it in their bilateral dialogues with Central Asian states.
