Supporters of the Chechen-born Mansur Movlaev, who is currently held in extradition detention in Kazakhstan, said on Saturday that his parents had been abducted by Chechen security forces.
There was no independent confirmation of this information at the time of publication. The Chechen authorities have not commented on the situation.
The report of the alleged abduction of Movlaev’s parents, Khava and Movsar Movlaev, was published in an Instagram support group for Movlaev. According to his supporters, other relatives were not informed where they had been taken or on what grounds.
Activists also claim that shortly before their alleged abduction, security service officers detained and tortured Movlaev’s brother, Zelimkhan. He was later hospitalised with serious injuries and continues to suffer from his wounds.
According to the support group, Zelimkhan Movlaev was told that he was being detained due to his brother’s activities. After the allegations of torture became public, Movlaev’s parents were also allegedly detained. Activists say the security forces indicated to the family that the release of relatives depended on Mansur Movlaev’s return to Chechnya.
‘There are no other updates for now. Close friends and relatives are afraid to share information; it appears they have been intimidated. They were threatened that their house would be taken away and that they would be expelled from Chechnya. Mansur’s father, Movsar, was told by the head of the Shali district police department, Akhyad Musanipov, shortly after Mansur’s escape, that they would find him and kill him’, activists from Movlaev’s support group told OC Media.
In 2020, Movlaev was convicted in Chechnya in a case involving drug trafficking. He and his supporters have described the prosecution as politically motivated. In 2022, he was released on parole, but soon after, said he was again unlawfully detained by security forces and placed in an informal detention facility.
‘I had only been out of prison for two months and had arranged to return to university for my third year. I went to Moscow to work, but as soon as I returned to Chechnya, I was abducted again and taken to the Shali District Police Department. From the first step inside, the torture began. I was beaten with hands, feet, and pipes, and tortured with electric shocks and stun devices. Everything was aimed at breaking me psychologically’, Movlaev wrote.
He later managed to escape Chechnya and leave Russia.
After fleeing, Movlaev spent some time in Kyrgyzstan, where he was convicted for illegal border crossing. After his release, he left the country and moved to Kazakhstan. In May 2025, he was detained in Almaty at the request of the Russian authorities. In Russia, he faces charges related to extremism and extortion. Movlaev rejects the allegations, saying he is being persecuted for criticising Chechnya’s leadership.
In January 2026, Kazakhstan’s Prosecutor General’s Office approved Russia’s extradition request, but the process was subsequently suspended. Kazakhstan’s Supreme Court ruled that the extradition decision could not be enforced until Movlaev’s asylum application had been fully considered. In May, an Almaty investigating judge extended his extradition detention for a further two months.
