We are talking about Kamil Kasimov, he can be illegally taken to the territory of the Russian Federation, where he faces up to 15 years in prison. The Russian military kidnapped in Kazakhstan former Russian contract soldier Kamil Kasimov, who fled Russia last summer to avoid joining the war against Ukraine and settled in Astana.

As Radio Liberty reports, citing the words of human rights activists and Kasimov’s relatives, on April 23 of this year, four unknown people came to Kamil’s place of work and informed him about the “detention,” and then took the man out in a civilian car in an unknown direction. Later, the former military man got in touch with his brother and said that he was going to be taken to a Russian military unit located in the Kazakh city of Priozersk.  

According to the interlocutors, they do not know exactly who the people who detained Kasimov are, but they assume that they are employees of the Russian military investigation department who deliberately arrived in the capital of Kazakhstan to kidnap Kasimov and illegally take him to the territory of the Russian Federation.  

To date, the former military man is still being held in Priozersk, there is no contact with him. If he is taken to Russia, he could face up to 15 years in prison on charges of “desertion.”  

Human rights activists emphasize that the legislation of Kazakhstan does not provide for the transfer to another country of a person prosecuted on the territory of his country for a war crime. In this regard, they appeal to the Kazakh leadership and urge them to take all necessary measures to release Kasimov and give him the opportunity to apply for asylum.

At the moment, human rights activists do not have an answer as to whether the Kazakh authorities gave consent to the actions of the Russian military who kidnapped Kasimov.