EU Council expands sanctions against Russia for human rights violations in Crimea

The Council of the European Union has added six more Russians to the sanctions list for human rights violations in temporarily occupied Crimea.

That's according to data published in the Official Journal of the European Union, Ukrinform reports.

"The Union is concerned about the continuing deterioration of the human rights situation in the Crimean peninsula, notably in the context of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. In that context, six persons should be included in the list of natural and legal persons, entities and bodies subject to restrictive measures set out in Annex I to Regulation (EU) 2020/1998," the statement reads.

In particular, the EU sanctioned FSB employees, prosecutors and judges involved in the persecution of Crimean Tatars and journalist Vladyslav Yesypenko.

The decision enters into force from the day of its publication in the Official Journal of the EU.

Russian security forces detained Yesypenko on March 10, 2021, saying that they found a hand grenade and a fuse for it in his car. According to the Russian investigation, he allegedly collected explosives from elements found in a cache.

Yesypenko denies his guilt and claims that FSB employees tortured him with electricity after his arrest, and the case against him was trumped up.

On February 16, 2022, the so-called Simferopol district "court" illegally sentenced Yesypenko to six years of imprisonment in a general regime colony and fined him 110,000 Russian roubles.

On August 18, it emerged that the "court" in Crimea had reduced Yesypenko's prison term from six to five years.