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The Prosecutor General’s Office of Kazakhstan has granted Russia’s request to extradite activist Yuliya Yemelyanova, reports the “Russian Anti-War Committee.”

The prosecutor’s decision regarding Yemelyanova, who is being held in a remand centre, was issued on 29 January. However, her lawyers and human rights defenders were not notified by the authorities.

The Anti-War Committee notes that the document was issued bypassing procedure and with violations, as Kazakh authorities are still considering the activist’s application for asylum:

“Back in October 2025, the Prosecutor General’s Office guaranteed that the issue of extradition would not be considered until all administrative procedures relating to her asylum claim were completed.”

At the end of January, Kazakhstan approved the extradition of two other Russians: an activist from Chechnya, Mansur Movlayev, and IT specialist Aleksandr Kachkurkin. The latter has already been extradited to Russia—he was taken into custody on charges of high treason (Article 275 of the Criminal Code). In addition, on 2 February local police handed over deserter Semyon Bazhukov to the Russian military, even though he too was awaiting a decision on his asylum request.

26 February The Prosecutor General’s Office of Kazakhstan suspended Yemelyanova’s extradition to Russia until her application for refugee status is reviewed, reports the “Russian Anti-War Committee.”

2 March The Specialised Interdistrict Administrative Court of West Kazakhstan Region denied Yuliya Yemelyanova asylum. The decision was issued on 27 February. It was published on his channel by politician Andrey Pivovarov.

As reported by the BBC, her defenders plan to appeal this decision. It has not yet entered into force.

  • Yemelyanova was detained in Almaty, a major city in Kazakhstan, on 31 August 2025. The activist was on her way to Vietnam and had a layover in Kazakhstan. She was confident that she would not need to leave the airport’s transit zone, as both of her flights were operated by the same airline. On the spot, it turned out that Yemelyanova needed to collect her luggage and check it in again, as well as go through repeat registration. As a result, she was detained.
  • The reason for her detention was a theft case (Part 2, Article 158 of the Criminal Code) for which Yemelyanova was put on a wanted list in Russia. She is accused of stealing a taxi driver’s phone in 2021. “In reality she is being prosecuted on the grounds that she was part of Navalny’s headquarters. That is, she is being persecuted for political reasons,” said her lawyer. The Ark Project called the case fabricated.
  • Yemelyanova left Russia in 2022 and in recent years had been living in Georgia. The Ark Project reported that she was helping Russian political prisoners and participated in the Emigration for Action and Just Help projects, which supported Ukrainian refugees in Georgia with medical and social issues.