Yakut anti-war activist Aikhal Ammosov (Igor Ivanov), detained in Kazakhstan at the request of Russia, received a certificate of asylum-seeker status from the Kazakh authorities. This was reported by lawyers Murat Adam and Inara Masanova.
In addition to Ammosov, the same document was received by 29-year-old Russian woman Natalya Narskaya, who has been in pre-trial detention center No. 18 in Almaty for more than two months. In Russia, a criminal case has been opened against her for public calls for extremism on the Internet (Part 2 of Article 280 of the Criminal Code).
As lawyer Murat Adam explained, the status issued to young people suspends the decision on their extradition to Russia. Adam and Masanova added that they notified the prosecutor's office about this.
“Please do not confuse this with the decision to grant them asylum, since we are still waiting for this decision due to the presence of all legal grounds for this,” Adam emphasized.
Ammosov was sent to the Almaty pre-trial detention center in October. The arrest is related to the case of justification of terrorism (Part 2 of Article 205.2 of the Criminal Code), which the Yakutsk department of the Investigative Committee opened against the activist in February. Ammosov himself was not notified of the new criminal case.
Last year, the activist was fined three times under protocols for “discrediting” the army because of his anti-war actions. After this, a case was opened against him under a similar criminal article (280.3 of the Criminal Code). At the end of 2022, the activist left Russia.
The Criminal Code of Kazakhstan has an article on the justification of terrorism, similar to the Russian one (Part 2 of Article 256 of the Criminal Code) — in contrast to “discrediting” the army. This allows Russia to seek his extradition. This allows Russia to seek his extradition.
Earlier, the founder of the Kazakh public association “Point of No Return” Evgenia Baltatarova reported that Natalya Narskaya had a nervous breakdown in the Almaty detention center. “She is locked in a punishment cell, and her screams are heard by the entire pre-trial detention center,” other prisoners told the human rights activist.
Narskaya, a vocal teacher, left Russia in the spring of 2022. After the start of the war, she wrote a letter to the administration of the city of Lyubertsy, in which she condemned the invasion in Ukraine — after which local deputies filed a police report against her. Already in Kazakhstan, she gave an interview to the Eyewitnesses project. “I have the blood of Ukrainians on my hands. Now. Partially. For «Russian» I’m not ready to tear my ass and I won’t tear it,” said Narskaya.