On Monday 5 June, the EU Council adopted restrictive measures against nine people in Russia, as part of the comprehensive human rights sanctions regime, for sentencing Russian political opponent Vladimir Kara-Murza to 25 years in prison “on the basis of politically motivated charges and false allegations” (see EUROPE 13163/18).
In particular, the Council sanctioned the Russian Deputy Minister of Justice, Oleg Sviridenko, who was responsible for applying the legislation on ‘foreign agents’, a law “at the centre of a wave of repressive laws cracking down on independent civil society, the media and dissenting individuals”, according to the Council.
The other people involved are the investigator of the Russian Investigative Committee who issued a “politically motivated criminal charge” against Vladimir Kara-Murza and the head of the Investigative Department of this Committee, four judges who intervened in the various legal proceedings against the political opponent, the head of the pre-trial detention centre where Mr Kara-Murza is being held, and a Russian government ‘expert witness’ in “politically motivated legal proceedings”.
They are subject to an EU travel ban and asset freeze, and EU citizens and businesses are prohibited from making funds available to them.
In total, the EU has sanctioned 43 individuals and 15 entities under the comprehensive human rights sanctions regime.
See the legal act: https://aeur.eu/f/79i (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)