EU lists 26 individuals and 2 entities in view of the situation in the country

The Council decided to impose restrictive measures on additional 26 individuals and 2 entities from Belarus, in view of the situation in the country.

Restrictive measures were imposed on various members of the judiciary, namely judges who issued politically motivated sentences, including against citizens who voiced their opinions against the Lukashenka regime, the system and the brutality of Belarusian law enforcement structures, and are therefore responsible for the repression of civil society and the democratic opposition. Furthermore, restrictive measures are also imposed on the heads and deputy heads of various correctional institutions (prisons and a pre-trial detention centre), as well as the head of a medical unit in one of these institutions, where a number of political prisoners face inhumane conditions and are subject to abuses.

Today’s listings also include individuals who, as business owners, part-owners, associates, or members of boards of directors, benefitted from the Lukashenka regime, including through the privileges awarded or advantages granted to their companies by the regime, and contributed to circumvent EU sanctions.

Vlate Logistik LLC, a Belarusian transport and storage company, which owns two border checkpoints on the EU-Belarus border and enjoys significant tax advantages and benefits from the Lukashenka regime, is one of the two sanctioned entities, together with its shareholders Aleh Barabanau, Aleh Herasim, Aleh Paitrou, Dzmitry Zamulevich, and Uladzimir Arkadzyeu.

Lastly, the other sanctioned entity is Ruzekspeditsiya LLC, a Belarusian company which benefits from the regime and facilitates the circumvention of EU sanctions by participating in the delivery of cars prohibited to be sold, supplied, transferred or exported from the EU to Belarus. Ruzekspeditsiya is listed together with its owner, Aleh Arlou.

Altogether, EU restrictive measures against Belarus now apply to 287 individuals and 39 entities.

Those designated today are subject to an asset freeze and EU citizens and companies are forbidden from making funds available to them. Natural persons are additionally subject to a travel ban, which prevents them from entering or transiting through EU member states.

The EU stands with the people of Belarus and unwaveringly supports the Belarusian people’s quest for a free, democratic, sovereign and independent Belarus as part of a peaceful Europe.

The relevant legal acts have been published in the Official Journal of the European Union.

Background

Since August 2020, the EU has imposed several successive rounds of individual and sectoral sanctions, against those responsible for internal repression and human rights violations in Belarus, and in the context of Belarus’ involvement in Russia’s war against Ukraine. With these measures, the EU is signalling to the political and economic actors responsible that their actions and support for the regime and to Russia come at a cost.

In its conclusions dated 19 February 2024, the Council expressed its deep concern about the deteriorating human rights situation in Belarus, and strongly condemned the continuing persecution and intimidation campaigns against all segments of Belarusian society by the Belarusian regime. It deplored that political prisoners remain incarcerated in appalling conditions, exposed to torture and ill-treatment, without access to essential health services, and that many of these prisoners have been kept for long periods of time without contact with their lawyers and relatives. The EU urges the Belarusian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release all political prisoners, and abolish the death penalty.

On 5 August 2024, the Council decided to impose restrictive measures on  28 individuals for their role in the ongoing internal repression and human rights violations in Belarus. These sanctions were adopted ahead of the fourth anniversary of the fraudulent presidential elections of August 2020.