A court in Kazakhstan has extended the arrest of Denis Kozak, an anarchist from Russia’s Rostov-on-Don, for 12 months due to his being wanted internationally on the basis of an extradition request from Russia, deputy director of the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights Denis Jivaga tells Novaya-Europe.
Jivaga notes that this is a standard procedure. The arrest was extended because Kozak applied for refugee status. His petition could be considered within the next three-six months.
Kozak was detained in Kazakhstan on 9 February 2023, he was later arrested for 40 days.
In Russia, the 19-year-old is accused of publicly justifying terrorism because of his comment under a post about teenager Mikhail Zhlobitsky blowing himself up in the building of the regional directorate of the Federal Security Service in the Russian city of Arkhangelsk back in 2018.
Russian human rights project OVD-Info notes that Kozak gave his assessment of the incident in the comment as Kozak communicated with Zhlobitsky online previously, but it contained no explicit approval of the terrorist attack. Kozak had his home searched on 4 April 2022 and had his cell phone, his laptop and several books seized.
