Despite a request from the Russian Prosecutor General's Office, a Croatian court decided not to extradite Magomed-Amin Gatagazhev, a native of Ingushetia, to Russia. The request, submitted in November 2025, concerned Gatagazhev's charges of terrorism and participation in illegal armed groups.
Detained in the fall of 2025, he was held in a deportation center, where his rights were regularly monitored by human rights activists. Russia maintains his involvement in illegal armed groups due to his time in Syria, claiming he joined the group at the age of 13 or 14. Prior to his arrest on the Croatian-Bosnian border, he lived in Turkey.
The situation surrounding his possible extradition has sparked widespread controversy: previously, approximately 50 asylum seekers held in the Ezevo immigration prison in Croatia—mostly from the North Caucasus republics—began a hunger strike in solidarity with Gatagazhev and protest against the violation of their rights. The protest ended when human rights activists succeeded in improving their conditions.
Magomed-Amin Gatagazhev is the brother of Leyla Gatagazheva, who was extradited from Iraq to Russia in June 2023 and charged with similar crimes.
