The Higher Court in Podgorica today released Kazakh women's rights activist Dinara Smailova to defend herself from prison, a day after she was arrested in Montenegro.
The court, as reported by Radio Free Europe, ordered the seizure of Smailova's passport.
She was arrested in Budva on Monday.
"DS was arrested pursuant to an order of the investigating judge of the Higher Court in Podgorica, and upon a request for extradition from Kazakhstan for the purpose of conducting criminal proceedings against her," the police said.
A court in Kazakhstan issued an arrest warrant in late December 2023 for the head of the NeMolchiKZ organization, which fights domestic and sexual violence.
Kazakh authorities said Smailova was charged with fraud, violation of privacy rights and spreading false information.
She faces up to ten years in prison for the crimes she is charged with in her home country.
The arrested Kazakh woman is a fierce critic of the authorities there for their record in protecting women and children from sexual and domestic violence.
In February last year, the international organization Human Rights Watch called the allegations against her "suspicious" and expressed concern that the authorities were on a "fishing expedition in search of evidence of Smail's wrongdoing, raising serious concerns about their motives in this case."
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Smailova has been living in self-imposed exile for years, and since 2023 she has been in Montenegro.
The Council for Civilian Control of Police Work warned Interior Minister Danilo Šaranović in October last year that Smailova was facing extradition to Kazakhstan and that that country "like Russia, is exerting increased pressure on human rights defenders."
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