Rights Groups Urge Kazakhstan To Halt Extradition
By Kazakh Telegraph Agency
6 October, 2026
A number of international human rights organizations have issued a joint appeal urging the authorities of Kazakhstan to halt the extradition of activists Yulia Emelyanova and Mansur Movlayev—requested by Russia—or to allow them to safely travel to another country.
"Kazakhstan must not allow its courts and detention facilities to become instruments of transnational repression against people who fled Russia in search of safety. If returned to Russia, Yulia Emelyanova and Mansur Movlayev would face a serious risk of torture and other grave human rights violations. Their extradition would thus violate Kazakhstan’s absolute obligation under international law to uphold the principle of non-refoulement. In Movlayev’s case, it would also constitute a violation of binding interim measures issued by the UN Human Rights Committee," states the joint appeal, which is published on the website of the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and the Rule of Law (KIBHR).
The joint appeal was issued by the International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR), the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and the Rule of Law (KIBHR), Freedom for Eurasia (FfE), and the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights (HFHR). They expressed concern that Yulia Emelyanova and Mansur Movlayev face imminent extradition to Russia following Kazakhstan's final rejection of their asylum applications. The non-governmental organizations issuing this statement call on the authorities of Kazakhstan to immediately halt both extradition proceedings and release the activists from custody. They also urge the authorities to review the activists' requests for international protection in accordance with international standards or to allow them to safely depart for a third country willing to accept them.
Human rights defenders point to Kazakhstan’s international obligations. In their view, as a party to the UN Convention against Torture, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, Kazakhstan must not return an individual to a country where they face a real risk of torture, ill-treatment, or other irreparable harm (Article 3 of the Convention against Torture; Articles 6 and 7 of the ICCPR; Paragraph 12 of the Human Rights Committee’s General Comment No. 31).
This prohibition is absolute and applies to everyone, regardless of their conduct or the charges brought against them, the human rights defenders state.
The non-governmental organizations issuing this statement also call on Kazakhstan’s international partners—including the European Union and its member states—to urgently raise the cases of Yulia Emelyanova and Mansur Movlayev with the Kazakhstani authorities and urge them to uphold their international obligations regarding the principle of non-refoulement, and to urgently explore options for their safe transfer to third countries.
It should be noted that on September 10 (regarding Mansur Movlayev) and September 24 (regarding Yulia Emelyanova), the cassation court upheld previous decisions denying them asylum in Kazakhstan.
© 2026 KazTAG LLP
