The Cassation Court upheld the refusal to grant Movlaev asylum in Kazakhstan.
The Cassation Court in Kazakhstan found no violations in the refusal to grant asylum to Mansur Movlaev, a native of Chechnya. Protective measures from the UN Human Rights Committee, including a ban on his extradition to Russia, continue to apply to Movlaev.
As reported by "Caucasian Knot", Chechen native Mansur Movlaev appealed to UN Secretary-General António Guterres. He asked him to personally appeal to the President of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, urging him to cancel the extradition to Russia. In mid-July, Movlaev's defense pointed out in an appeal to the Prosecutor General of Kazakhstan that the law provides for no more than 12 months of extradition detention, there are no grounds for extending it for the Chechen native, and requested to check the legality of the decision to extend his detention.
In May 2025, Mansur Movlaev, wanted by the Shali District Department of Chechnya, was detained in Kazakhstan and placed under extradition arrest. On May 21, he was granted asylum seeker status, which provided him temporary protection from being sent to Russia. At the end of December 2025, the authorities of Kazakhstan refused to grant Mansur Movlaev refugee status. On January 30, it became known that the Prosecutor General's Office of Kazakhstan ordered his extradition to Russian security forces. The defense challenged this decision. In February, the Supreme Court of Kazakhstan suspended the execution of the extradition decision until his asylum application was finally considered. The UN Human Rights Committee, which in February called on the authorities of Kazakhstan to suspend Movlaev's extradition until his appeal was reviewed. In mid-July, the extradition detention was extended again - until January 13, 2027.
On September 10, the Cassation Court for Administrative Cases of the Republic of Kazakhstan supported the decisions of lower instances, confirming the refusal of the Migration Department of Kazakhstan to grant asylum to Mansur Movlaev, a native of Chechnya, in Kazakhstan, reported Movlaev's lawyer Elena Zhigalenok to the correspondent of "Caucasian Knot".
"They refused without any special explanations. They simply stated that the previous decisions were made without violations," she noted.
Zhigalenok also stated that Movlaev's defense is currently considering the possibility of appealing to the Supreme Court of Kazakhstan. "
But the question here is whether the case will be accepted - the Supreme Court usually only considers unique cases," she noted.
We can only hope that the Prosecutor General's Office will treat these measures with respect.
Currently, according to Zhigalenok, the only "guarantee" for Movlaev remains the temporary protective measures, including the ban on his extradition to Russia, imposed by the UN Human Rights Committee while Movlaev's case is being considered.
"We can only hope that the Prosecutor General's Office will treat these measures with respect," the lawyer stated.
The date for the consideration of Movlaev's case by the UN Human Rights Committee is currently unknown.
"So far, the committee has given the state time until the end of August to present its position on this case. We do not yet know when there will be any further actions," Zhigalenok concluded.
Movlaev was born in 1995 in Shali. He told his lawyers that while studying at the university, he helped the Chechen opposition movement "Aadat" (the organization is recognized as extremist, and its activities are banned in Russia) with information about people kidnapped by Kadyrov's men. "He was persecuted for this active position," Movlaev's lawyer Rena Kerimova told the publication "Kursiv Media".
In 2022, Movlaev was detained by security forces in Chechnya and held in an illegal prison. After escaping from there, in January 2023, he managed to reach Kyrgyzstan. In August 2023, security forces in Kyrgyzstan detained Movlaev, who was wanted in Russia for financing extremist activities. A court in Bishkek sentenced Movlaev to six months in a penal colony and subsequent deportation from the country. On November 20, 2023, Movlaev was released, but the decision on his deportation remained in force, and he independently left Kyrgyzstan to avoid being sent back home.
Materials on human rights violations in Chechnya, Kadyrov's attacks on the opposition, and his struggle against dissenters in the republic are published by "Caucasian Knot" on the thematic page "Dissent in Chechnya".
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