Kazakh authorities have granted Russia's request to extradite activist Yulia Yemelyanova, who is facing criminal charges in Russia for stealing a mobile phone from a taxi driver, the Anti-War Committee reported on Tuesday.
Yemelyanova received the relevant order from the Kazakh Prosecutor General's Office on January 29. According to the organization, human rights activists and lawyers learned of the decision only after visiting the pretrial detention center.
The activist's defense team plans to appeal the extradition decision in court, as the country's authorities are still reviewing Yemelyanova's request for political asylum. The Anti-War Committee clarified that the Kazakh Prosecutor General's Office had previously promised to postpone the extradition process until a decision on her political asylum status was reached.
Yulia Yemelyanova is known to have worked as volunteer at Navalny's headquarters in St. Petersburg.
