The Social Justice Center has responded to the killing of 43-year-old Dmitry Pushkarev, a prisoner extradited from Georgia to Russia, and considers the resumption of extraditions of prisoners from Georgia to the Russian Federation to be fundamentally incompatible with human rights.

The organization has issued a statement regarding the matter.

According to the organization, between 2017 and 2022, the Russian Federation submitted 33 requests to Georgia for the extradition of its citizens from Georgia, and Georgia granted 29 of those requests. According to the organization’s assessment, this means that Georgia complied with approximately 90% of Russia’s requests.

According to the Social Justice Center, the state is obliged not to carry out an extradition if there is a real risk of torture or inhuman or degrading treatment.

“On October 4, media outlets reported the killing of Dmitry Pushkarev, who had been extradited from Georgia to Russia. According to Russian media reports, he was killed on a Vladikavkaz-Adler train traveling through Kabardino-Balkaria after he killed one employee of the penitentiary service and wounded three others. On September 24, the Prosecutor General’s Office of Russia published information about the transfer of Pushkarev and Kornei Fedunov, whom the Russian prosecution accused of creating or participating in a criminal organization and several offenses related to the illegal trafficking of drugs. The Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia has not issued a statement regarding their extradition to Russia.

It is also noteworthy that, according to a statement issued by the Prosecutor General’s Office of Russia on February 2 this year, Georgia handed over Nikita Podstavin to Russia, who was wanted for committing an offense under Article 111 of the Russian Criminal Code - intentionally causing serious bodily harm resulting in the death of the victim. The Prosecutor General’s Office of Russia also issued a statement of a similar nature on July 3, 2026, concerning Maxim Cherbakov, who was extradited from Georgia, while on July 17, Dagestani national Rasul Kaitmazov was extradited from Georgia. In September 2026, the extradition of Mikhail Timofeyev to Russia was also under consideration; however, the process was suspended in accordance with a decision of the UN Human Rights Committee, and Timofeyev was released from extradition detention on bail. The Committee prohibited Georgia from extraditing or deporting him until it completes its consideration of the case. The European Court is also examining the circumstances of his detention.

Georgia decided to suspend the extradition of prisoners to Russia as early as 2022. The Georgian side stated this during the consideration of the case of Sumbaev v. Georgia, noting that Georgia had undertaken not to extradite prisoners to Russia until the European Court established a Council of Europe-wide approach to the issue. The Georgian side also submitted statistics demonstrating that no prisoners had been transferred from Georgia since March 2022, after the Russian Federation was expelled from the Council of Europe. It should also be noted that between 2017 and 2022, the Russian Federation submitted 33 requests to Georgia for the extradition of its citizens from Georgia, and Georgia granted 29 of those requests. This means that Georgia complied with approximately 90% of Russia’s requests,” the statement reads.

The Social Justice Center calls on the Georgian government, the Ministry of Justice, and the Prosecutor General’s Office to immediately suspend the extradition of individuals to the Russian Federation “until the situation in the Russian Federation changes substantially and there is a consensus on this issue within the international community.”

“Continuing the existing practice of extradition to the Russian Federation, particularly without adequate public justification, a particularly rigorous assessment of individual risks, and genuinely effective guarantees of independent monitoring, creates a serious risk that Georgia will violate its obligations under Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Article 3 of the UN Convention against Torture.

The Social Justice Center calls on:

The Georgian government, the Ministry of Justice, and the Prosecutor General’s Office to immediately suspend the extradition of individuals to the Russian Federation until the situation in the Russian Federation changes substantially and there is a consensus on this issue within the international community;

The Prosecutor General’s Office to publish statistical information on extradition requests received from the Russian Federation since March 16, 2022, the decisions made in response to those requests, and the extraditions carried out;

The Ministry of Justice to explain the legal grounds for changing the moratorium stated before the European Court in the case of Sumbaev v. Georgia, and to indicate what types of individual guarantees and subsequent monitoring mechanisms have been applied in relation to extraditions that have already been carried out,” the statement reads.