Additional 33 people entered their list of the European Union (EU) on Friday (22.3.2024) as restrictive measures were announced linking them to Alexei Navalni’s sudden death in a prison colony. Those listed in the penalty scheme shall be subject to an asset freeze and the provision of funds or economic resources, directly or indirectly, to them or for their benefit, shall be prohibited. Moreover, the EU travel ban applies to the natural persons mentioned in the new list of the summit. The new sanctions include the prison colonies where the Russian opposition was held from June 2022 until his death, IK-6 and IK-3. Both colonies are known for exerting physical and psychological pressure, complete isolation, torture and violence on prisoners. In both parties, Navalni suffered abuse, including through repeated isolation in a punishment cell and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, which led to a serious deterioration of his health, the European Council says in its decision to the head of IK-3, Vadim Kalinin, and various deputy heads of the colony were also sanctioned. In addition, the Council decided to include members of the judiciary such as Andrei Suvorov, who sentenced Navalny to 19 years in a colony of special regime under inhuman conditions last year, Kiril Nikiforov, who rejected his lawsuit against IK-6 to appeal for his transfer to a detention cell for 12 days and Evgenia Nikolaeva and Natalje Dudar, who have issued a series of decisions against political opponents thus contributing to political repression in Russia. Other lists include high-level prison and justice officials accused of either being responsible for executing Alexei Navalni’s prison sentences and other political opponents, or did not ensure the protection of human and political rights and freedoms. With today’s entries, restrictive measures under the EU’s global human rights sanction regime now apply to 104 natural and legal persons and 23 entities from many countries.
EU Summit: New sanctions on 33 people for Alexei Navalni’s death
—