Yulia Yemelyanova. Photo: social media
Kazakhstan’s Prosecutor General’s Office has approved the extradition of a Russian activist linked to Alexey Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, Kazakhstani independent media outlet Vlast reported on Wednesday.
Yulia Yemelyanova, who worked as a volunteer in Navalny’s St Petersburg office in 2017, was detained by the authorities while transiting Kazakhstan in August after being added to Russia’s wanted list, since when she has been in pretrial detention in Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city.
Russian prosecutors allege that Yemelyanova stole a mobile phone worth 12,000 rubles (€128) from a taxi driver in September 2021, accusations which the Russian Anti-War Committee, a group of exiled Russian opposition figures which is providing Yemelyanova with legal support, has rejected as “fabricated” and “politically motivated”.
According to Vlast, Yemelyanova’s lawyer, Murat Adam, plans to challenge the decision to extradite his client at Kazakhstan’s Supreme Court, and then to the UN if that appeal is unsuccessful.
Yemelyanova’s legal team had hoped that her application for political asylum would delay her extradition, with the Kazakhstani authorities allegedly having said that no decision would be taken until her asylum request had been reviewed.
If Yermelyanova’s extradition goes ahead she will become at least the fourth Russian citizen to be extradited by Kazakhstan at Moscow’s request. Mansur Movlayev, an outspoken critic of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, had his extradition to Russia approved in January despite his lawyers arguing that his life would be at risk if he was forced to return to the North Caucasus republic.
