The EU plans to impose sanctions against the Deputy Minister of Justice, an employee of the Federal Penitentiary Service, investigators and judges involved in the persecution of opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza. This is stated in the draft sanctions of the European Union, which is at the disposal of the Present Time.
In total, the project contains the names of nine Russians. It is planned that these sanctions will come into force by the end of May 2023.
The EU sanctions list includes:
- Deputy Minister of Justice Oleg Sviridenko, responsible for including Russians on the list of “foreign agents”;
- Dmitry Komnov, an employee of the Federal Penitentiary Service and a person on the “Magnitsky list”, who denied medical care and treatment to Sergei Magnitsky for more than three months, despite his increasing pain;
- two representatives of the investigation;
- four judges from the Basmanny, Khamovnichesky and Moscow city courts;
- “pocket expert” Danila Mikheev, whose work formed the basis of high-profile lawsuits.
Previously, Mikheev was known as a professional whistleblower associated with the center for countering extremism of the Russian police. With his participation, the OVD-Info website was blocked, Pussy Riot members Lucy Stein and Maria Alyokhina, feminist Darya Serenko, members of The Other Russia Alexander Rybkin and Olga Shalina, political scientist Fyodor Krasheninnikov, Crimean Tatar Mustafa Seidaliev and many other people were persecuted , critical of the current Russian government. Also thanks to his actions, blogger Sergey Komandirov received six years in prison.
Politician Vladimir Kara-Murza received one of the harshest sentences handed down to political prisoners in contemporary Russia. The Moscow City Court sentenced him to 25 years in a strict regime colony on charges of treason, military “fakes” and participation in an “undesirable organization.” On charges of terrorist attacks and massacres, Russian courts handed down more lenient sentences.
In early March 2023, the US Treasury Department added to the sanctions list six Russian citizens involved in the criminal prosecution and violation of the rights of Vladimir Kara-Murza. Among those subject to US sanctions were Deputy Justice Minister Oleg Sviridenko, Basmanny Court Judge Elena Lenskaya, Khamovniki District Court Judge Diana Mishchenko, Moscow City Court Judge Ilya Kozlov, investigator Andrei Zadachin, and director of the ANO Independent Expert Danila Mikheev.
Earlier, Great Britain imposed sanctions on people involved in the persecution of Vladimir Kara-Murza. The list includes judge Elena Lenskaya, investigators Denis Kolesnikov and Andrey Zadachin, and FSB officers Alexander Samofal and Konstantin Kudryavtsev.
