Prosecutors in Kazakhstan have granted Russia’s request to extradite a jailed critic of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov after a court in the Central Asian country denied his request for asylum, the activist’s defense attorney said Thursday.
Mansur Movlayev fled to Central Asia in 2023 after being released from a Russian prison on drug charges he claimed were politically motivated.
Police in Kazakhstan detained Movlayev in May 2025, more than a year after he was deported from neighboring Kyrgyzstan, sparking fears that he could face torture or death if returned to his native republic of Chechnya in Russia’s North Caucasus.
Prominent Kazakh human rights lawyer Murat Adam said Thursday that the Kazakh prosecutor’s office decided to grant Movlayev’s extradition request from the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office.
Media reports claim Movlayev is wanted in Russia on charges of financing “extremist” activity and organizing an “extremist” organization, although Russian authorities have not publicly commented on the case.
The decision to extradite Movlayev came after Kazakhstan’s asylum review commission on Dec. 26, 2025, denied his asylum request. Adam said he has appealed the decision.
A preliminary hearing on Movlayev’s refugee status has been scheduled in a Kazakh court for Feb. 11, Adam wrote on Facebook.
According to reports, Movlayev provided the Chechen opposition group 1ADAT with information about abducted people while he was a university student. Chechnya’s Supreme Court labeled 1ADAT an “extremist” organization in 2022.
In 2020, Movlayev was sentenced to two years in prison on drug trafficking charges. He was reportedly detained again in 2022 and placed in a secret prison.
He later fled Russia and traveled to Kyrgyzstan without identification papers in January 2023. In Kyrgyzstan, Movlayev was detained and then released, after which he fled to neighboring Kazakhstan.
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