After Navalny’s death: EU imposes sanctions against 33 people

Frozen accounts and no more entry into the EU – because of Navalny’s death, sanctions apply against 33 people from the judiciary and politics in Russia. The penal colonies where the Kremlin critic was imprisoned are also on the list.

Five weeks after the death of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, the European Union has implemented sanctions against 33 people from the judiciary and politics in Russia.

The EU also symbolically placed the two penal colonies in which Navalny was imprisoned on the sanctions list. The reason given was that the penal colonies IK-3 and I-6 were known for subjecting prisoners to physical and psychological pressure, complete isolation, torture and violence and that medical care was poor.

The penal colony’s doctor was also affected

The punitive measures were imposed using a sanctions instrument to punish serious human rights violations. Affected people are no longer allowed to enter the EU and no longer do business with EU citizens. In addition, their EU accounts and other assets must be frozen.

The people affected include the top staff of the penal colonies and high-ranking officials. Among them, for example, is the doctor and head of the medical department of the IK-3 penal colony. The official gazette states that he was responsible for Navalny’s health, but did not pay attention to his catastrophic prison conditions and his poor health. He also failed to ensure that his department had adequate resuscitation capacity and that Navalny was taken to the nearest hospital in time after his collapse on February 16, 2024.

Circumstances of death remain unclear

Kremlin critic Navalny, who was sentenced to a long prison sentence, died in a prison camp in Siberia in mid-February. The circumstances of his death are still unclear to this day. Germany and the other EU states accuse Putin and the Russian authorities of being to blame for Navalny’s death. Supporters of the opposition figure and his widow Yulia Navalnaya assume that he was murdered in the camp.