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Polish authorities have extradited Chechen native Alvi Akiev to Russia, where he stands charged under terrorism-related statutes, according to a report by Radio Liberty affiliate Kavkaz.Realii, citing two anonymous sources from a human rights organization and the Chechen diaspora.
According to the article, approximately ten days ago Akiev visited Poland's migration service for a routine check-in necessary for extending his migration status. However, Akiev was detained, transported to the border with Russia’s Kaliningrad Region, and handed over to Russian border officials.
“Over the past month and a half, at least two Chechen natives have been quietly deported from Poland. Another person had their residence permit revoked and is scheduled for deportation, but they could not be detained as they were not home. Additionally, several Chechens have recently been denied residence permit renewals. This is becoming widespread,” one of the sources told Kavkaz.Realii.
The non-governmental organization Human Rights Analysis Center reported Akiev's disappearance on Sept. 29, three days after he and his wife had entered the migration and border service building in Warsaw. Akiev has not been heard from since.
In 2018, Russia initiated a case against Akiev on charges of involvement in an illegal armed group. The investigation claims that he was a member of an “illegal military formation” in Syria — an offense that carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison under Russian law.
In 2022, Akiev told reporters that he spent four years in a Polish immigration prison and lost several court cases regarding his extradition. After Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, a Polish court ruled that Akiev faced the risk of torture if extradited. Following that decision, he was placed in a migrant camp in Przemyśl — a city in southeastern Poland close to the country’s border with Ukraine.
In November 2023, Austrian activists held a demonstration in support of Akiev outside the Polish embassy in Vienna.
Akiev’s case is not the only one of its kind. In early September of this year, Kavkaz.Realii reported that Polish authorities were planning to revoke the supplementary protection status of Islam Belokiev, the former press secretary of the Sheikh Mansur Battalion — a Chechen volunteer formation fighting against the Russian army alongside the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The procedure was initiated by Poland's Office for Foreigners, which cited Belokiev's use of a Russian passport and his two trips to Ukraine as the basis for the decision.