The picketers in Yerevan expressed support for Mansur Movlaev.
In Yerevan, near the embassy of Kazakhstan, an event took place where participants called on the official Astana not to extradite Chechen native Mansur Movlaev and activist Yulia Emelyanova to the Russian authorities.
As reported by "Caucasian Knot", earlier, Chechen native Mansur Movlaev stated that a prosecutor who visited him said that extradition from Kazakhstan is inevitable and that Movlaev could become a martyr. Social media users, commenting on this account, criticized the authorities of Kazakhstan and demanded that Movlaev not be handed over to the Russian security forces.
On February 23, the UN Human Rights Committee registered a complaint from Mansur Movlaev and urged the authorities of Kazakhstan to refrain from extraditing him to Russia until the appeal is considered, and also requested information and comments from the authorities regarding the substance of the complaint. On September 2, Movlaev asked UN Secretary-General António Guterres to personally appeal to the President of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, urging him to comply with the interim measures of the UN Human Rights Committee and the principle of non-refoulement, to cancel the extradition, and not to send Movlaev to Russia, where, according to him, he faces torture and death.
Today, a picket in support of Mansur Movlaev took place near the embassy of Kazakhstan in Yerevan. Participants of the event demanded that Astana not allow his extradition to Russia, as well as not to hand over Yulia Emelyanova to the Russian authorities. The message about the event was posted in the stories section of the Instagram*-public of the support group for Movlaev, free_mansour_movlaev.
In a photo published by the public, five participants of the event stand against the backdrop of the building of the embassy of Kazakhstan in Yerevan. One of them holds a photo of Movlaev, and another holds a photo of Emelyanova.
As of 14:30 Moscow time, there are no comments on the website of the embassy of Kazakhstan in Armenia regarding the picket in Yerevan and the demands of its participants not to extradite Movlaev and Emelyanova to the Russian authorities.
Yulia Emelyanova was detained on August 31, 2025, at Almaty airport during transit through Kazakhstan. In Russia, Emelyanova is wanted in a case of stealing a phone from a taxi driver, and she was denied asylum in Kazakhstan. On September 15, the publication 365info.kz reported that the court extended Emelyanova's extradition arrest until February 28, 2027, and the consideration of her cassation appeal regarding the asylum case is scheduled for September 24.
It should be noted that Mansur Movlaev was detained by security forces in Chechnya in 2022 and was held in an illegal prison. After escaping from there, he managed to reach Kyrgyzstan in January 2023. 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 to his homeland.
In May 2025, Movlaev was detained in Kazakhstan and placed under extradition arrest. On January 30, it became known that the Prosecutor General's Office of Kazakhstan decided to extradite him to the Russian security forces. The defense challenged this decision. In February, the Supreme Court of Kazakhstan suspended the execution of the decision to extradite Movlaev until the final consideration of his asylum petition. Human rights defenders and activists considered this decision and Movlaev's appeal to the UN Human Rights Committee to be interconnected, which in February urged the authorities of Kazakhstan to suspend Movlaev's extradition.
On September 10, it became known that the cassation court in Kazakhstan found no violations in the refusal to grant asylum to Chechen native Mansur Movlaev.
Materials on human rights violations in Chechnya, Kadyrov's attacks on the opposition, and his struggle against dissent in the republic are published by "Caucasian Knot" on a special thematic page "Dissent in Chechnya".