Despite a ban on extradition to Russia, Croatian authorities are holding an Ingush refugee
Magomed-Amin Gatagazhev, a native of Ingushetia, remains in custody in Croatia, despite the revocation of the decision to extradite him to Russia at the request of the Prosecutor General's Office. His total detention period exceeds eight months.
Gatagazhev's situation was highlighted by human rights activist Roza Dunaeva. She emphasized that the court rulings effectively eliminated the legal basis for the continued detention of the Ingush native during the extradition process. Despite this, he remains in a migrant detention center.
The human rights activist previously visited Gatagazhev in person to obtain his signature on documents necessary for filing a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights. The complaint detailed the persecution faced by the Ingush native, the circumstances that forced him to flee Russia, information about his family, and evidence of credible threats if he were extradited.
Furthermore, approximately fifty asylum seekers held in the Yezhevo immigration detention center in Croatia, most of whom came from the North Caucasus, went on a hunger strike. They thereby expressed support for Gatagazhev and their opposition to the violation of their rights. The protest ended after human rights organizations succeeded in securing improvements to their conditions of detention.
Russian authorities accuse Gatagazhev of involvement in an illegal armed group due to his time in Syria, claiming he joined the group at the age of 13 or 14. Prior to his arrest in the fall of 2025 on the Croatian-Bosnian border, he lived in Turkey.
