The Council of the European Union imposed new sanctions against 28 people involved in repression and human rights violations in Belarus.
The press service of the department writes about it.
The new sanctions concern, in particular, two deputy heads of the Main Directorate for Combating Organized Crime and Corruption of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Belarus. This body is responsible for political persecution in Belarus, its employees illegally detained people, including activists, and subjected them to torture.
The sanctions list has also been expanded by prosecutors and judges who handed down politically motivated sentences, in particular against those who protested against the rigged presidential elections in 2020 or spoke out against the Lukashenko regime. The heads of various prisons and pretrial detention centers are also under restrictions.
In addition, "long-time supporters of Lukashenko" who benefited from his regime will now be under sanctions. Including:
- Director General of the largest state information Belarusian Telegraph Agency (BelTA) Iryna Akulovich;
- presenter of the "Senate" television program on the STV channel and head of the Youth Council at the National Assembly of Belarus, Mykyta Rachilovskyi;
- former head of Lukashenkaʼs press service and long-time general director of BelTA Dmytro Zhuk.
The EU Council emphasized that these "regime propagandists" spread fakes about repression, disinformation created by both the Belarusian and Russian authorities, and promoted hatred of the democratic opposition and civil society.
Currently, EU sanctions against Belarus apply to 261 individuals and 37 legal entities. Their assets in the European Union are frozen, citizens and companies from the EU cannot give them money. Belarusians subject to sanctions are also prohibited from entering the territory of the EU.
The new package of sanctions was adopted on the eve of the fourth anniversary of the falsified presidential elections in Belarus in 2020. The EU calls on the Belarusian authorities to immediately release all political prisoners and abolish the death penalty. Meanwhile, the EU Council condemns the "unprecedented level of repression" in Belarus ahead of parliamentary and local elections on February 25, 2024.