Mansur Movlayev in a video still. Photo: video still.
Kazakhstan’s Prosecutor General’s Office has approved the extradition of Chechen activist Mansur Movlayev to Russia. Lawyer Murat Adam reported this on social media. He represents the activist’s interests, although he was previously stripped of his law license over statements made in the case of ORDA.kz editor-in-chief Gulnara Bazhkenova, in which he participated as defense counsel.
“Today we received bad news from the Prosecutor General’s Office of Kazakhstan, which decided to satisfy the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office’s extradition request for the handover of Chechen opposition figure and activist Mansur Movlayev,” the lawyer wrote.
At the end of December last year, Kazakhstan’s authorities denied Movlayev refugee status. That decision is now being appealed in court, with preliminary hearings scheduled for February 11. Movlayev is currently being held in a pretrial detention center in Almaty.
Meanwhile, the activist’s support group on Instagram (banned in Russia and owned by Meta, which is designated extremist in Russia) published a scan of a document received from Kazakhstan’s Prosecutor General’s Office. It states that Movlayev must be handed over to Russia within 30 days after the extradition decision enters into force. Human rights advocates say the decision is unlawful because the activist’s asylum cases are still under consideration and claim that in Russia he would be “killed with 100 percent probability.”
Mansur Movlayev is known for sharp criticism of Chechnya’s head Ramzan Kadyrov and for speaking out against human rights violations and political repression in the republic. In 2020, he was sentenced to three years in prison under Article 228 of the Russian Criminal Code, which covers drug trafficking offenses. According to Chechen opposition figures, the case was fabricated.
In 2022, Movlayev was released on parole, but was soon abducted and taken to a district police department in Chechnya. He managed to escape and reach Kyrgyzstan without documents, after which Russia placed him on a federal wanted list on charges of financing extremism.
In Kyrgyzstan, Movlayev served a prison term for illegal border crossing and was ordered expelled from the country, but he managed to leave on his own.
In May 2025, the activist was detained in Kazakhstan at Russia’s request. He was initially arrested for 40 days, but his detention was subsequently extended several times.
