A native of Chechnya fears an assassination attempt in a Kazakh pretrial detention center

Mansur Movlaev, who is being held in a pretrial detention center in Kazakhstan and was previously put on the wanted list in Russia, fears an assassination attempt by another prisoner. According to his lawyer, a murder suspect, an ethnic Ingush, was placed in his cell.

“I was informed that some Ingush was recently placed in the detention center, who was allegedly detained on suspicion of murder. I am very grateful to the pretrial detention center staff for their vigilance and for the fact that they fear that this person could have been sent there to eliminate Movlaev or somehow influence the situation regarding him,” said lawyer Murat Adam.

He also noted that he does not trust the letter from the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office, which expresses a guarantee of the absence of political motives for Movlaev’s persecution, torture, and cruel treatment in the event of his extradition.

Earlier, Mansur Movlaev received asylum-seeking status in Kazakhstan. He also asked not to be extradited to Russia.

"I'd rather die here than go to the Chechen Republic," his lawyers quoted him as saying.

In 2020, Mansur Movlaev was sentenced to three years on charges of financing extremism. Human rights activists claimed that he was persecuted for criticizing the Chechen authorities and speaking out against human rights violations and repression. In 2022, he was released on parole, but was detained by security forces in Chechnya. Movlaev managed to escape and illegally reach Kyrgyzstan. After a court in Kyrgyzstan ruled to deport him to Russia, he left the republic and went to Kazakhstan.