The public committee for the protection of banker Mukhtar Ablyazov, who has been detained in France, has appealed to French President Francois Hollande and deputies of the European Parliament not to extradite the banker to any CIS countries.
The committee is comprised of Kazakh opposition activists Amirzhan Kosanov, Rysbek Sarsenbayev, Zhasaral Kuanyshalin, Marat Zhanuzakov, Igor Kozlov, Bakhyt Tumenova and others.
“Ablyazov cannot be extradited to Kazakhstan in any way! Nor to any other CIS countries, with which Kazakhstan has friendly relations. He must be tried in a fair and open court,” Kosanov said at a news conference in Almaty on Monday when reading the appeal.
The public activists said they were certain that if Ablyazov is extradited to a CIS country (Russia or Ukraine), he would definitely be handed over to Kazakhstan.
The committee’s appeal will be sent to France in the short term, Kosanov said.
Meanwhile, representatives of Will Return Ablyazov, the recently founded coalition of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), have already asked the French authorities to extradite the fugitive banker to Kazakhstan.
The coalition Will Return Ablyazov is comprised of over 43 organizations, including the Civil Alliance, the coordinating council for public organizations of veterans and invalids of the Afghan war and local military conflicts, the Right for Housing, the Center for Research and Innovation and others.
Ablyazov has been detained in France. According to the information of a French Foreign Ministry representative, Ablyazov was arrested under the international warrant issued by a Kyiv court. The banker could be extradited to Ukraine or Russia if the court makes a relevant ruling.
In 2010 Ablyazov was put on the international most wanted list by the Ukrainian authorities on charges of fraud and embezzlement.
Kazakhstan accused Ablyazov of misappropriating over $6 billion. In February 2012, a London court sentenced the Kazakh oligarch to 22 months in prison for contempt of court but Ablyazov managed to escape.
