VP/HR — Extradition proceedings against Kazakh opposition activist and political dissident Mukhtar Ablyazov
30.9.2014
Question for written answer E-007406-14
to the Commission (Vice-President/High Representative)
Rule 130
Jan Olbrycht (PPE) , Jacek Saryusz-Wolski (PPE) , Jarosław Leszek Wałęsa (PPE)
Since August 2013, extradition proceedings have been going on against Mukhtar Ablyazov — a Kazakh opposition activist and dissident since 2001, and President Nursultan Nazarbayev's main political rival — in France. The extradition requests were submitted by the investigating authorities of Russia and Ukraine — both of which were sympathetic towards the Kazakh Government — and are clearly political in nature.
Given that irregularities have been uncovered in the way the prosecutor in Aix-en-Provence has been conducting the proceedings — namely the opaque contacts between the prosecutor and the Ukrainian, Russian and Kazakh parties — and that there are doubts surrounding the legitimacy of the involvement of the Russian and Ukrainian investigating authorities in the case, the proceedings were transferred to a court in Lyon for examination.
In this connection:
- 1.Is the VP/HR aware of the latest worrying developments in the case ofMukhtar Ablyazov?
- 2.What steps do the VP/HR and the EEAS plan to take in order to preventMukhtar Ablyazov from being extradited to Kazakhstan, where he will likely faceoppression and torture?
- 3.In the context of this and several other similar cases, does the VP/HR feel that the signingof an enhanced partnership and cooperation agreement (PCA) with Kazakhstan would bea legitimate step?