Documented Cases.

Yuliya Emelyanova

Russian activist and former staff member of Alexei Navalny’s St. Petersburg headquarters, Yuliya Emelyanova, was detained on August 31, 2025, at Almaty Airport during a layover. She was placed in pretrial detention in Kazakhstan while her asylum application was pending. On January 29, 2026, she was notified that Kazakhstan had approved her extradition to Russia. In Russia, she faces criminal charges for theft (Part 2, Article 158 of the Criminal Code) regarding an alleged incident in 2021 involving a taxi driver's phone. Human rights defenders and the Ark project claim the case is fabricated, noting that the alleged stolen item was only shown to her at a police station. Her lawyers intend to appeal the extradition decision.