Lawyer Vadim Drozdov, who represents the Chechen in international proceedings, told Novaya Gazeta Europe that Movlayev left a suicide note in which he asked that another activist facing extradition to Russia, Yulia Yemelyanova, be saved.

According to the Anti-War Committee of Russia, Movlayev received medical assistance in time and his life is not in danger.

"Forgive me, I am tired of injustice! Neither the court nor the prosecutor's office hears us! They [Kadyrov's men] will torture me, torment me and kill me, and then say I did it myself. I will no longer allow myself to be tortured! For 16 months I lived in fear of being extradited and in hope... Now there is only fear!" the note says, according to its text published by Novaya Gazeta Europe.

Movlayev also asked to be buried in Kazakhstan so that supporters of Ramzan Kadyrov would not get even his body.

The Chechen activist has been held under extradition arrest in Almaty since May 2025. In July, a court extended his detention by a further five months, until January 13, 2027. Russia is seeking Movlayev's handover on an extortion charge, which he calls fabricated.

On December 26, 2025, the Kazakh authorities refused Movlayev refugee status. In January, the country's deputy prosecutor general approved Russia's request for his extradition, assuring that the activist's prosecution was not politically motivated and that he would not be tortured at home. In September, Kazakhstan's Cassation Court upheld the refusal of asylum.

According to Drozdov, the extradition decision was suspended for the period of the appeal against the asylum refusal, and the handover was also blocked by interim measures imposed by the UN Human Rights Committee. Despite this, Movlayev continued to be held in the detention center. The lawyer called the activist's continued detention one that had lost its original purpose and acquired an arbitrary character.

Drozdov filed a separate complaint with the UN Human Rights Committee over Movlayev's continued detention. The committee confirmed receipt of the complaint and sent it to Kazakhstan for comments; the matter remains under consideration.

Yulia Yemelyanova, whom Movlayev mentioned in the note, is a former volunteer at Navalny's St. Petersburg headquarters. She was detained at Almaty airport in August 2025 while traveling from Georgia to Vietnam. Kazakhstan approved her extradition, and courts refused her asylum. Her defense filed a cassation appeal, and her handover to Russia is suspended until it is considered.

According to the Russian prosecution, Yemelyanova stole a phone from a taxi driver in 2021. The Russian woman denies guilt. Rights advocates point out that the theft report appeared only a month later, and that the activist herself first saw the phone at a police station.