Activists Yulia Yemelyanova and Mansur Movlaev pen letters to Kazakhstan’s President Tokayev asking not to be extradited to Russia

Russian activists Yulia Yemelyanova and Mansur Movlaev, who were detained by Kazakhstan’s authorities, have written letters to President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev asking him to stop their extradition to Russia. The letters have been made available to The Insider’s editorial team.

In early 2026, the office of Kazakhstan’s Prosecutor General approved the extradition of the two Russians to their home country, but rights defenders managed to slow the process through appeals.

As The Insider previously reported, Yemelyanova, a resident of St. Petersburg, was detained at Almaty airport on Aug. 31, 2025 while changing planes during a layover. She has been held in a pretrial detention center since then. Movlaev, who criticized Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov and was tortured in Chechnya, is also in custody.

In her letter to Tokayev, provided to The Insider by the Consuls of the Russian Anti-War Committee, Yemelyanova gives a detailed account of her case and says her appeal was “prompted by the desperate situation” in which she “ended up because of the bias of Russian law enforcement and judicial authorities and the connivance of their Kazakh colleagues.” She wrote:

“I ask you to help me resolve this situation, on which my life literally depends. It is within your power to ensure a fair and objective trial for me, or perhaps even to overturn the premature decision by the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Republic of Kazakhstan on my extradition. I believe that human rights are not empty words for you, and that you, like me, believe that everyone is equal before the law. I place my hope in your intervention.”

Movlaev, in his letter to Kazakhstan’s president, says his extradition arrest, which came at the request of “Chechen authorities,” is based on a fabricated case. In his appeal, Movlaev stresses that he is not asking Tokayev “for a political decision”:

“I ask only that you not allow me to be returned to the hands of the people I once managed to escape from at the cost of unimaginable suffering. If I am handed over, I am sincerely convinced that I will not come back alive… If possible, help stop my extradition, grant me protection, or give me the opportunity to leave safely for a third country that is ready to accept me.

I appeal to you not only as president of Kazakhstan, but also as a human being. The history of the Kazakh people knows the value of human compassion and mutual aid. In the most difficult times for my people, during the deportation of 1944, Kazakh land saved Chechens who were on the brink of death. That is why I appeal to you today with hope.

Help me preserve the most precious thing a person has — life.”

Lawyers representing the activists in Kazakhstan told The Insider that Yemelyanova and Movlaev could be deported immediately after the appeals process has formally run its course.

“A cassation appeal has now been filed, and the date for consideration in the cassation court has not yet been set. Extradition is currently suspended until the refugee appeal period is over. That means extradition could follow after cassation. In Mansur’s case, there are interim measures, but it is not clear whether our state will comply with them,” the lawyers said.

Margarita Kuchusheva, a consul for the Anti-War Committee, told The Insider that an appeal to Tokayev could play a positive role in the fate of Yemelyanova and Movlaev.

“The president of Kazakhstan is the guarantor of the Constitution and of human rights and freedoms. That is why we are appealing to him to pay attention to these cases and not hand political activists over to a criminal regime,” Kuchusheva explained. “I personally heard Kazakh delegations at PACE and the OSCE say they follow European human rights values. It is time to prove that not only in words, but in deeds.”

Earlier, the Consuls of the Anti-War Committee, the International Society for Human Rights (ISHR/IGFM), and the Ark project called on Kazakhstan’s president to stop both extraditions, release the activists, and allow them to leave safely for third countries.

Several months ago, The Insider published a detailed report on the worsening situation for anti-war Russians trying to obtain asylum or find safety in Western countries and nearby states. Rights defenders interviewed at the time said Kazakhstan stood out as one of the most dangerous countries in this regard and advised Russians at risk not to travel there — or even to transit through the airport.

Russia has opened a case against Movlaev on extortion and extremism charges. Yemelyanova officially faces charges of theft.