Yakut anti-war activist and leader of the punk band Crispy Newspaper Aikhal Ammosov (Igor Ivanov) was placed in a pre-trial detention center in the Kazakh city of Almaty. Journalist Evgenia Baltatarova was the first to report this.
As a representative of the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law (KIBHR) told Mediazona, Ammosov was sent to a pre-trial detention center for 40 days “in connection with the extradition issue.” The KIBHR did not specify what was the reason for the request from the Russian authorities.
The telegram channel “Movement for Independence of Sakha “Resistance”” wrote about the detention of Ammosov on October 9. The publication said that the activist had recently been wanted by Kazakh security forces. The channel also posted a video of the arrest of a Yakut — he is accompanied by two people in civilian clothes.
“In Aikhal’s case, the most important thing is to find out under what article he was placed in a pre-trial detention center. If the old one is about discrediting, then it is not deportation, but in Russia they could sew a new one on him, for example, extremism,” wrote Baltatarova. It is known that in April of this year the activist was included in the register of extremists and terrorists.
The list of Rosfinmonitoring includes persons under investigation and convicted in cases of terrorism and extremism, their accounts are blocked. Apparently, a new criminal case has been opened against Ammosov; next to his name there is an “*” sign — this is how those charged with terrorism are marked on the list.
A year before this, in August 2022, a criminal case was opened against Ammosov for “discrediting” the army (Part 1 of Article 280.3 of the Criminal Code). The reason for it was a banner with the inscription Yakutian punk against war, which the activist posted on on the roof of the “Nugget” swimming pool in the center of Yakutsk.
The activist was fined three times under protocols for “discrediting” the military (Part 1 of Article 20.3.3 of the Administrative Code) — because of the graffiti “No to war” in three languages, leaflets “ Get your hands dirty with paint, not blood” and a picket near the Ritual Service branch with a poster “The groom has arrived.”
In the winter, Ammosov did not make contact for more than three weeks and did not come to the hearing on his criminal case. On January 6, he reported that he was safe.