BRUSSELS (Brussels Morning) – The European Union on Friday levied penalties on the Russian justice system and officials, accusing them of being responsible for incarcerating opposition leader Alexei Navalny in prison just before his demise last month.
“Alexei Navalny’s slow killing by the Kremlin regime is a stark reminder of its utter disregard for human life” European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell stated in a statement announcing the sanctions.
Josep Borrell Statement
As per Borrell, the restrictions, aimed at 33 officials and two prisons, along with asset freezes and travel bans, “demonstrate our determination to hold Russia’s political leadership and authorities to account for the continuing violation of the human rights in Russia ”.
Navalny’s Incarceration
Navanly, who’s President Vladimir Putin’s most relentless opponent, succumbed while serving a 19-year term. He had been in prison since 2021, when he returned to Germany where he had been recuperating from nerve-agent ingestion which he blamed on the Kremlin.
The sole reason for his demise on February 16, cited by officials, was only due to natural causes.
EU Sanctions
The Europen Union warned that its penalties would target the IK-6 corrective colony and IK-3 maximum security corrective colony, and as well as the official incharge Vadim Kalinin where Navanly had been detained prior to his death.
“Both colonies are known for exerting physical and psychological pressure, full isolation, torture and violence on prisoners. In both places Mr. Navalny suffered abuses, including through repeated solitary confinement in a punishment cell and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, leading to the severe deterioration of his health”, added further.
The EU measures aimed to target justice officials such as Andrey Suvorov, who convicted Navanly to a 19-year term in a special regime colony last year. And Kirill Nikiforov, who denied Navalny’s case against IK-6 to appeal his 12-day transfer to a penalty cell.
