Evgeny Nakaznenko Doesn't Receive Refugee Status

Nakaznenko, who opposes the war against Ukraine, has been in a pre-trial detention facility in Almaty for several months, Orda.kz reports.

The commission meeting on granting refugee status to Yevgeny Nakaznenko was on December 2.

Murat Adam, the lawyer representing his interests, said they hoped to receive asylum because Nakaznenko's situation was different:

Firstly, Evgeniy Nakaznenko is our former compatriot - he grew up in the East Kazakhstan region. Secondly, he is half Ukrainian. We were able to prove this with documents. Of the other Russians whose cases I handled - Evgenia Baltatarova, Aikhal Ammosov, Natalia Narskaya - none were Ukrainian,says Murat Adam.

However, these arguments did not influence the commission's decision, which concluded that the case did not meet the criteria for determining refugee status.

Murat Adam believes there were no grounds for refusal.

Among the reasons for which asylum may be denied is direct participation in terrorist acts. A criminal case was opened against Yevgeny Nakaznenko in the Russian Federation under the article 'justification of terrorism.' But 'justification of terrorism' and the commission of terrorist acts are not the same thing,  the lawyer explains.

Adam also said that his client was deprived of a residence permit in Kazakhstan because Russian law enforcement agencies opened a criminal case. This was confirmed by the lawyer's response from the police department of the East Kazakhstan region.

Yevgeny Nakaznenko is in the Almaty pre-trial detention center under extradition arrest.

Murat Adam says they plan to appeal the commission's decision. 

Yevgeny Nakaznenko, known in Kazakhstan as the head of a language school, was detained on September 17 at the Almaty airport. He intended to board a flight to Türkiye.

A criminal case was opened against him in Russia because of videos on the Internet in which he spoke out against the war in Ukraine.

Nakaznenko is not the first Russian anti-war activist to attempt to obtain refugee status. Kazakhstan has not granted asylum to any of them.

18-year-old Pavel Vladimirov is also currently in the Almaty detention center.

Original Author: Igor Ulitin