22:04, 2 September 2026

Movlaev asked the UN Secretary-General for support with the authorities of Kazakhstan.

Mansur Movlaev, a native of Chechnya, appealed to UN Secretary-General António Guterres. He asked him to personally address the President of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, urging him to cancel his extradition to Russia.

As reported by "Caucasian Knot", in mid-July, Mansur Movlaev's defense addressed the Prosecutor General of Kazakhstan, stating that the law provides for no more than 12 months of extradition detention, there are no grounds for extending it for the native of Chechnya, 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. In late 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 decided to hand him over to 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 his asylum application was finally considered. 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 until this appeal was reviewed. On May 8, a court in Almaty extended the extradition arrest for two months - until July. Neither Movlaev nor his lawyers were present at the hearing. In mid-July, the extradition arrest was extended again - until January 13, 2027.

"My name is Mansur Movlaev, and I am asking for my life. The UN Human Rights Committee has applied temporary measures in my case, urging Kazakhstan not to hand me over to the Russian Federation while my case is being considered," his appeal states, which was published by the support group free_mansour_movlaev on their Instagram page*.

According to Movlaev, he has already experienced abduction, illegal detention, and torture in Chechnya once. If he is returned, he fears he will not survive a second time.

In addition to the UN Human Rights Committee, the UN Special Rapporteur on Russia, Mariana Katzarova, also called for Movlaev not to be extradited until his case is reviewed by the committee, Movlaev's lawyer reported. "She prepared a report noting that he cannot be extradited due to the risk of torture," she noted.

"Mr. Secretary-General, please do not let my name become just another name that will be remembered only when it is too late. I respectfully ask you to personally address President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and the authorities of Kazakhstan to ensure they respect the temporary measures of the UN Human Rights Committee and the principle of non-refoulement. Please do not send me back to a place where I face a real risk of torture and death," his letter states.

Movlaev emphasized that behind this letter is not just a case number, but a person. "There is a son whose mother is still waiting. There is a person who just wants to live. Please help save my life," Mansur Movlaev concluded.

Movlaev was born in 1995 in Shali. He told his lawyers that while studying at university, he helped the Chechen opposition movement "Aadat" (an organization recognized as extremist, its activities are banned in Russia) with information about people abducted 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, 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 left Kyrgyzstan on his own to avoid being sent back home.

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 the thematic page "Dissent in Chechnya".

Translated automatically via OpenAI from https://www.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/426288