Ertaev, Zhomart
Who, Why and How exiled: Ertaev is Kazakh national, a banker and has been an adviser to a Kazakh Bank. In 2009 he was detained in Kazakhstan and spent nine months in pretrial detention on suspicion of embezzlement, but was released after a court dropped those charges. He was found guilty, however, of the lesser charges of misusing bank funds and violation accounting regulations for which the nine months of imprisonment he already served was sufficient punishment. Since about 2015 Ertaev lived in Russia (RFL/RE, 2018) where he received residence in the Russian Federation in November 2017 (Tengrinews, 2018a).
Stage 1 details (accusations/ charges/ Interpol notice/ extradition requests): In March 2018 Kazakhstan opened an investigation against Ertaev under the article on fraud and issued a search warrant with Interpol (Qazaq Times, 2019; Tengrinews, 2018a; Tengrinews, 2018b)
Stage 2 details (arrest/ detention/ extradition): Upon the Interpol warrant, Ertaev was detained in Russia in May 2018 , put under house arrest but later released (Tengrinews, 2018a; Tengrinews, 2018b).
Stage 3 details (attack/ abduction/ rendition/ torture/ assassination/ death): In March 2019 Ertaev has been extradited from Russia to Kazakhstan where he faces up to 10 years in prison for charges of embezzling more than $80 million (Tengrinews, 2018b). Ertaev is suspected of fraud while working as an adviser to Bank RBK in Kazakhstan that bilked the institution of $80 million between 2011 to 2017. His lawyers say this is untrue and argue that he could be killed if returned to Kazakhstan (Qazaq Times, 2019; RFE/RL, 2019).
Other actions during Stages 1–3 (dispossession/ overseas assets frozen/ intimidation/ action against associates/ …): After the first arrest in Russia in 2018 Ertaev renounced his Kazakhstani citizenship. Also he applied for political asylum in Russia (RFL/RE, 2019) while his residence permit for the Russian federation has been revoked. (Tengrinews, 2018a; Tengrinews, 2018b)
Current status: Extradited from Russia to Kazakhstan in 2018/2019 (Tengrinews, 2018b). Held in pretrial detention in Nur-Sultan, Kazakstan, as of March 15th, 2019 (RFE/RL, 2019).
Press sources: Qazaq Times, 2019 ‘Jomart Ertaev Extradited from Russia to Kazakhstan’ <https://qazaqtimes.com/en/article/58640> [accessed 14 May 2019] Tengrinews, 2018a ‘Жомарту Ертаеву аннулировали вид на жительство в России’, Tengrinews.kz, 2018 <https://tengrinews.kz/kazakhstan_news/jomartu-ertaevu-annulirovali-vid-na-jitelstvo-v-rossii-347821/> [accessed 14 May 2019] Tengrinews, 2018b ‘Жомарт Ертаев снова задержан в Москве’, Tengrinews.kz, 2018 <https://tengrinews.kz/kazakhstan_news/jomart-ertaev-snova-zaderjan-v-moskve-357843/> [accessed 14 May 2019] RFL/RE, 2019 ‘Russia Extradites Kazakh Businessman To Astana’, RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty<https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-extradites-kazakh-businessman-to-astana/29823320.html> [accessed 14 May 2019] RFL/RE, 2018 ‘Kazakh Tycoon Detained In Moscow On Suspicion Of Fraud’, RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty<https://www.rferl.org/a/29219013.html> [accessed 14 May 2019]