In Poland, the prosecutor's office has released Aysoltun Niyazova, a member of Pussy Riot detained on September 6. This was reported to Novaya Gazeta Europe by another member of the group, Lucy Stein.
On the morning of September 8, the activist was taken to the district prosecutor's office in the city of Suwałki. The prosecutor, taking into account Niyazova's Lithuanian humanitarian residence permit as well as a court ruling in her favor issued in Croatia in 2022, refused to file a request for arrest and extradition. After that, the detainee was released.
Niyazova spent over a day in a detention center where, according to her, staff were preparing her for transfer to the women's prison in Białystok. "In the morning, I asked for at least a toothbrush. They told me: no, you will now be sent to the women's prison in Białystok, everything will be provided there. But instead, I was called to the prosecutor's office and immediately released," Niyazova told SOTA.
Aysoltun Niyazova was detained at the Polish-Lithuanian border on the afternoon of August 6. The basis was a request from the Turkmen branch of Interpol, issued back in 2002.
Turkmenistan accuses Niyazova of involvement in the embezzlement of 40 million dollars from the country's Central Bank. For this charge, the activist has already served six years in a Russian penal colony.
Nevertheless, the Interpol commission refused to remove Niyazova from the wanted database, as she served her sentence in Russia, not in Turkmenistan, and only for one episode.