Kazakh authorities have granted Russia’s requests to extradite Yulia Emelyanova and Mansur Movlayev. Murat Adam, a lawyer in Almaty, told Novaya Gazeta Europe that the orders signed by Kazakhstan Deputy Prosecutor General Askhat Zhumagali were dated January 27, 2026, but the defense learned of them only on February 11 and immediately appealed to the Supreme Court. A hearing in Movlayev’s case is set for February 24, while the date for Emelyanova’s appeal has not yet been announced.
Both activists had earlier been denied political asylum, and that decision is also being challenged. According to the lawyer, the defense has evidence of a real risk of torture in Russia, but Kazakh authorities, he says, gave that evidence no legal assessment. At the same time, both hold documents allowing them to remain lawfully in Kazakhstan until March 9, 2026.
Kazakhstan’s Prosecutor General’s Office said it had reviewed the facts and found no risks following extradition. Emelyanova has been held in a detention center in Almaty since September 2025, and Movlayev since May 2025.
In a letter from detention, Movlayev said the refusal of asylum amounted to a “death sentence through torture in Russia.”
29-year-old Movlayev, a Chechen activist and critic of Ramzan Kadyrov, was previously convicted in a drug case he says was fabricated. Russia later opened a case against him for allegedly financing extremist activity. 34-year-old Emelyanova, a former volunteer with Alexei Navalny’s headquarters in St. Petersburg, was detained at Almaty airport in September 2025; supporters say the phone theft case against her was fabricated.
Since the start of 2026, Kazakhstan has already decided to hand over four Russian citizens. Rights advocates say that on January 29, IT specialist Alexander Kachkurkin was deported to Russia and arrested upon arrival in a treason case. On February 2, Kazakh officers handed deserter Semyon Bazhukov over to Russian military police. Lawyers and rights groups say extraditions are being accelerated and that political considerations are increasingly shaping such cases in Kazakhstan.