Tag: political refugees

A prominent Kazakhstani journalist and opposition activist Zhanara Akhmetova could be illegally extradited from Ukraine to Kazakhstan at any time. According to our sources, the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine is already preparing to place her under extradition arrest. On 19 May 2020, Akhmetova got a decision by the Supreme Court of Ukraine depriving her of the chance to be granted asylum. The decision was adopted in haste during the quarantine. It was also adopted without taking into account the arguments of Akhmetova’s lawyers.

On the 20th February 2020, on the occasion of the 19th Winter Meeting of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, together with the members of the Dutch Delegation, Farah Karimi and Boris Dittrich, we had the pleasure of hosting the side-event “New and Old Ways of Suppressing Dissent in the OSCE Area: Protecting Political Refugees from Legal and Technological Abuse”.

Zhanara Akhmetova is a Kazakhstani journalist, one of the leaders of the opposition movement “Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan” (DCK). For several years, Akhmetova and her minor son have been unsuccessfully seeking refugee status and, through this, political asylum in Ukraine.

Members of the Italian Senate and the Italian Chamber of Deputies forwarded a letter to the Belgian Prime Minister, demonstrating their concern and outrage with the situation faced by Jardemalie in Belgium.

On 10 December 2019, in Kyiv, a discussion was held on the topic: “How to protect political refugees from illegal extraditions and misuse of interstate legal assistance?”. The event was held as part of the 4th National Human Rights Non-Conference. The Open Dialogue Foundation, the Right to Protection Charitable Foundation, the Kharkov Institute of Social Studies, and the Human Rights Agenda Coalition were among the organisers of the event.

When arriving in Ukraine, political refugees do not leave their problems behind; on the contrary, they face new ones.

The Open Dialogue Foundation was invited, as one of the external experts, along with representatives from Fair Trials International, Kirkland & Ellis LLP, Centre for Peace Studies and Sherpa Organisation, to take part in the first meeting of the Working Group on the Processing of Information (GTI).

The Open Dialogue Foundation was invited, as one of the external experts, along with representatives from Fair Trials International, Kirkland & Ellis LLP, Centre for Peace Studies and Sherpa Organisation, to take part in the first meeting of the Working Group on the Processing of Information (GTI).

Political refugees become victims of misuse of the Interpol system by authoritarian states.

Tatiana Paraskevich, a former colleague of the opposition politician Mukhtar Ablyazov, is currently under international protection in the Czech Republic and cannot be rendered to Ukraine or the Russian Federation.

The wife and daughter of Mukhtar Ablyazov in Italy were under close surveillance. International human rights organisations and the United Nations have expressed serious concern about the ‘extraordinary rendition’ of Mukhtar Ablyazov’s wife and daughter to Kazakhstan.

A decision was ratified by a Czech court to extradite Tatyana Paraskevich, former colleague of Kazakhstan opposition politician, Mukhtar Ablyazov to Ukraine

Alexander Pavlov’s lawyers appealed against the decision of a Spanish court on his extradition to Kazakhstan. The former security chief and confidant of opposition politician Mukhtar Ablyazov is a valuable source of information for the law enforcement agencies of Kazakhstan

Kazakh authorities are trying to extradite Mukhtar Ablyazov’s former bodyguard Alexandr Pavlov. In view of the vague nature of the charges, the Open Dialogue Foundation calls upon the authorities of the Kingdom of Spain to prevent the extradition of A. Pavlov to Kazakhstan

The criminal proceedings against the wife of fugitive Kazakh opposition leader, Mukhtar Ablyazov, bear features of a political order. Ablyazov’s six-year-old daughter, Alua Ablyazova, may also be the victim of political conflict.