The European Union has imposed sanctions on a new group of officials – eight Russian government and law enforcement officials who have violated human rights and undermined the rule of law, Reuters writes.
The individuals included in the sanctions list are members of the justice system, and are responsible for the conviction of Russian opposition activists in sentences that the EU calls politically motivated. The sanctions are also aimed at the heads of correctional labor colonies, where political prisoners are held in inhuman and degrading conditions.
The introduction of sanctions requires the unanimous consent of all 27 EU foreign ministers.
For the first time, sanctions related to human rights abuses against a number of Russian officials were introduced in 2024 in response to the deterioration of the human rights situation in Russia.
So far,
72 individuals from the justice system, the Ministry of Justice and the Russian prison network have been subject to EU sanctions
for human rights violations.
Among those added to the list on the 23rd of February are prison warden Alexey Valizer, pre-trial detention centre director Anton Vladimirovich Rychar, and St Petersburg judges Eva Alexandrovna Giunter and Andrey Pavlovich Shibakov. The sanctions prohibit these individuals from entering or transiting through EU countries, freeze their assets and prevent EU citizens and companies from disbursing funds to those on the sanctions list.
EU foreign ministers in Brussels on the 23rd of February also hoped to adopt a 20th package of sanctions against Russia; the new sanctions were also expected to target the energy and metalworking sectors. However, Hungary used its veto power to block the approval of the sanctions package and the granting of a loan to Ukraine.
Read also: Hungary vows to block new EU sanctions on Russia