Ukrainian authorities on Sept. 12 extradited Russian-born Timur Tumgoyev to Russia, prompting accusations that the Ukrainian government is cooperating with the Kremlin.
The Kharkiv Human Rights Group, which provided legal services to Tumgoyev, said he had fought against Russia in the Donbas. This is the first time a soldier who has fought against Russian-led forces in Ukraine has been extradited to Russia, according to the group.
Andriy Lysenko, a spokesman for the Prosecutor General’s Office, denied accusations of wrongdoing, claiming that the extradition was in line with Ukrainian and international law.
Tumgoyev, a native of the Russian republic of Ingushetia, was unlawfully detained in Kharkiv without legal grounds and then quickly transported to Russia, Boris Zakharov from the Kharkiv Human Rights Group told the Kyiv Post.
Tumgoyev was extradited at the request of Russia’s Federal Security Service, which has routinely fabricated political cases to crack down on Kremlin critics.
Russia claims that Tumgoyev also fought against Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria as part of the Islamic State, and has charged him with fighting for illegal groups that oppose Russia’s interests and for alleged participation in a terrorist group.
“Without very hard evidence, caution seems warranted since Russia has brought charges under this very same article against the world-renowned veteran of the Crimean Tatar national movement and Ukrainian MP Mustafa Dzhemilev and the Head of the Crimean Tatar Mejlis (and MP) Refat Chubarov,” the Kharkiv Human Rights Group said in a statement. “Both men were first banned from their homeland after Russia’s invasion of Crimea, and now face criminal charges of such ‘activities running counter to Russian interests’. This was in fact pointed out by Chubarov who, back in 2017, interceded on behalf of Tumgoyev.”
Tumgoyev was arrested by Ukraine’s Border Guard in Kharkiv in 2016 when he arrived from Turkey. A Ukrainian court ruled to extradite him to Russia, but the United Nations Human Rights Committee ordered that Ukraine suspend Tumgoev’s extradition proceedings.
The suspension order was still in force when Ukraine transported him to Russia.
“The move is especially shocking because Tumgoyev risked his life for Ukraine in the Donbas as part of the Chechen Sheikh Mansur Battalion for the defense of Ukraine, and has now knowingly been sent back to the country which is directly responsible for the military conflict,” the Kharkiv Human Rights Group said.
Tumgoyev had also applied for asylum in Ukraine, saying that he was facing persecution in Russia for his religious beliefs.
“Ukraine’s State Migration Service ignored the huge weight of material presented on abductions, killings, torture and illegal imprisonment on political or religious grounds in the Northern Caucuses and turned down his application,” the Kharkiv Human Rights Group said. “This is not the first time in the last four years that the Security Service of Ukraine and state bodies following its instructions have continued to collaborate with Russia’s Federal Security Service. On this occasion, there are very real grounds for fearing that Tumgoyev will be immediately subjected to torture, not least because of his defense of Ukraine, and it defies belief that Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office would carry out such an extraordinary step.”
Political persecution, threats to human life and the risk of torture can be grounds for rejecting extradition requests.
Meanwhile, in July two opponents of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan were detained by Ukrainian and Turkish authorities and expelled from Ukraine to Turkey in violation of extradition law, human rights activists say. Zakharov believes this to be an illegal kidnapping, while Ukrainian authorities deny any wrongdoing.
In October and November, seven associates of ex-Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili were also deported to Georgia by Ukrainian authorities without court warrants, with the Georgians claiming they had been kidnapped and beaten. Under Ukrainian law, forced deportation is only possible if authorized by a court.
Earlier this year Ukrainian courts ruled that the State Migration Service’s decision to expel one of the Georgians, Mikheil Abzianidze, from Ukraine to Georgia in October had been unlawful but Ukrainian authorities refused to let him re-enter the country.
Saakashvili himself, a vehement critic of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, was deported from Ukraine to Poland without a court warrant on Feb. 12 as part of what he sees as a political vendetta by Poroshenko. Saakashvili’s detention and expulsion violated numerous laws, lawyers for Saakashvili and independent attorneys said. The authorities deny accusations of wrongdoing, claiming that Saakashvili’s deportation was legal.
