Chess legend Garry Kasparov on Tuesday appealed to French President Francois Hollande to annul a decree to extradite exiled Kazakh oligarch Mukhtar Ablyazov to Russia, where he says he faces torture and rights abuses.
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls last month signed the decree to extradite Ablyazov, 52, a former minister turned opposition figure and banker turned fugitive, who was wanted by Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan on embezzlement charges.
Ablyazov says the charges were trumped up by his arch-foe Nursultan Nazarbayev, the president of the oil-rich nation and a staunch ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Kasparov, a fierce critic of Putin who now heads the Human Rights Foundation, believes Ablyazov -- who he met for the first time Tuesday in a French prison -- will face torture or death if he is extradited.
"How on earth can you assume this regime will not violate the rights of a man who is a personal enemy of a member of the dictatorship brotherhood?" asked Kasparov.
"To rule in favour of Putin's regime, it will be such a bad signal. I can only hope that president Hollande will look closely at this case and understand that the reputation of his country is at stake, that the decision will be reversed."
A court in the southeast city of Lyon ruled last year that Russia had provided sufficient guarantees that Ablyazov's rights would be respected but government still had to give its final approval.
- 'Torture and bad treatment' -
Kasparov and rights group Amnesty International fear Putin will hand Ablyazov directly to Kazakhstan.
Amnesty released a statement Tuesday saying that in Russia "torture, and generally bad treatment have always been used with complete impunity."
The rights group accused Paris of "sticking with a position that is incompatible with the respect for human rights it is committed to respecting."
Ablyazov was once a member of the inner circle of the Kazakhstan elite and served as energy and trade minister before his fall from grace.
He was jailed in 2002 for abuse of power and illegal business activities after co-founding and leading an opposition party, in a move widely seen as a bid to silence him.
He was quickly pardoned and released, however, and became chief executive of the BTA bank, which was nationalised in 2009 after facing collapse when the global financial crisis struck.
Soon after, Ablyazov went on the run over accusations he had stolen billions of dollars in state and investors' funds from the bank, which also had interests in Ukraine and Russia.
Private detectives tracked him to a villa in the south of France.
BTA has accused Ablyazov of presenting himself as a victim of political persecution to "divert attention from his criminal activities."
Ablyazov is appealing the French decree at the Council of State, the highest administrative court.
Chess legend Garry Kasparov on Tuesday appealed to French President Francois Hollande to annul a decree to extradite exiled Kazakh oligarch Mukhtar Ablyazov to Russia, where he says he faces torture and rights abuses.
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls last month signed the decree to extradite Ablyazov, 52, a former minister turned opposition figure and banker turned fugitive, who was wanted by Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan on embezzlement charges.
Ablyazov says the charges were trumped up by his arch-foe Nursultan Nazarbayev, the president of the oil-rich nation and a staunch ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Kasparov, a fierce critic of Putin who now heads the Human Rights Foundation, believes Ablyazov — who he met for the first time Tuesday in a French prison — will face torture or death if he is extradited.
“How on earth can you assume this regime will not violate the rights of a man who is a personal enemy of a member of the dictatorship brotherhood?” asked Kasparov.
“To rule in favour of Putin’s regime, it will be such a bad signal. I can only hope that president Hollande will look closely at this case and understand that the reputation of his country is at stake, that the decision will be reversed.”
A court in the southeast city of Lyon ruled last year that Russia had provided sufficient guarantees that Ablyazov’s rights would be respected but government still had to give its final approval.
– ‘Torture and bad treatment’ –
Kasparov and rights group Amnesty International fear Putin will hand Ablyazov directly to Kazakhstan.
Amnesty released a statement Tuesday saying that in Russia “torture, and generally bad treatment have always been used with complete impunity.”
The rights group accused Paris of “sticking with a position that is incompatible with the respect for human rights it is committed to respecting.”
Ablyazov was once a member of the inner circle of the Kazakhstan elite and served as energy and trade minister before his fall from grace.
He was jailed in 2002 for abuse of power and illegal business activities after co-founding and leading an opposition party, in a move widely seen as a bid to silence him.
He was quickly pardoned and released, however, and became chief executive of the BTA bank, which was nationalised in 2009 after facing collapse when the global financial crisis struck.
Soon after, Ablyazov went on the run over accusations he had stolen billions of dollars in state and investors’ funds from the bank, which also had interests in Ukraine and Russia.
Private detectives tracked him to a villa in the south of France.
BTA has accused Ablyazov of presenting himself as a victim of political persecution to “divert attention from his criminal activities.”
Ablyazov is appealing the French decree at the Council of State, the highest administrative court.
