A French court on Wednesday blocked the extradition of exiled Kazakh oligarch Mukhtar Ablyazov, an opposition figure wanted on embezzlement charges by Russia and Ukraine. The cassation court ruled against a decision in December by an appeals court in favour of the extradition of Ablyazov, who was arrested on the French Riviera in July and is accused of having stolen billions of dollars in state and investor funds while leading the Kazakh BTA Bank.