Chechen activist Mansur Movlaev survives suicide attempt in Kazakhstan detention center while awaiting extradition to Russia

Chechen activist Mansur Movlaev attempted suicide in a pretrial detention center in Kazakhstan but survived after doctors intervened to save his life, Margarita Kuchusheva, a representative of the Russian Antiwar Committee, told The Insider. Kuchusheva also said the activist’s lawyers had appealed to Kazakhstan’s Supreme Court after the country’s cassation court upheld the denial of his asylum request, a decision that has effectively cleared the way for his extradition to Russia. Novaya Gazeta Europe first reported the suicide attempt, citing Movlaev’s lawyer, Vadim Drozdov.

Movlaev left a suicide note asking that help be given to Russian activist Yulia Yemelyanova, who is also being held in pretrial detention in Kazakhstan and faces possible extradition:

“I ask forgiveness from all my friends, relatives, lawyers, the embassies of the European Union, the Netherlands and France, and the UN Committee, who tried to save my life. Forgive me, I am tired of injustice! Neither the court nor the prosecutor’s office hears us!

They will torment me, torture me and kill me, and then they will say I did it myself... I will not let them torture me again! For 16 months I lived with the fear of being extradited and with hope... Now there is only fear!

I ask Kazakhstan for only one thing: bury me here, in Kazakhstan. So that they do not even get my body!

Please at least save Yulia!”

Kuchusheva confirmed to The Insider that Movlaev had attempted suicide. She said doctors stitched up his wounds and saved his life.

“Mansur is alive. But his blood is on the hands of the Kazakh authorities. I cannot even imagine how much pain and fear they — both Mansur and Yulia — are living through there. We will keep fighting for them. An appeal has now been filed with Kazakhstan’s Supreme Court.”

Despite the Supreme Court appeal, following the cassation ruling there is currently no legal barrier preventing Kazakhstan from extraditing Movlaev to Russia. Kuchusheva previously said he could be extradited “as soon as they agree with the Russian side on the crossing point where he will be handed over.”

Kazakhstan’s Prosecutor General’s Office approved Movlaev’s extradition in early 2026.

As The Insider reported in July, Russian activists Yulia Yemelyanova and Mansur Movlaev, both detained by Kazakh authorities, appealed to President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev directly asking him to stop their extradition to Russia. The Consuls of the Antiwar Committee, the International Society for Human Rights (ISHR/IGFM), and the Kovcheg (“Ark”) project also called on Tokayev to halt both extraditions, to release the activists, and to allow them to travel safely to third countries.

This past spring, The Insider published a detailed report on the worsening situation facing anti-war Russians seeking asylum or refuge in Western countries and in former Soviet states close to Russia. Human rights advocates interviewed for the report said Kazakhstan had become one of the countries that stood out most negatively, and advised Russians at risk of political persecution not to travel there even in transit.

Movlaev faces criminal charges in Russia involving accusations of extortion and extremism. Yemelyanova, a former volunteer at the late Alexei Navalny’s headquarters in St. Petersburg, is wanted on a theft charge.