The EU has imposed sanctions against 15 individuals and one organization for violating the rights of Ukrainian prisoners

The European Council has adopted a decision to impose sanctions on 15 individuals and one organization responsible for serious human rights violations against Ukrainian prisoners of war and detained civilians, both in the temporarily occupied regions of Ukraine and in Russia. This is reported by UNN with reference to the European Council.

Details

Among those included in the list is Dmytro Neielov, first deputy head of the Olenivka prison in Donetsk region, involved in torture, beatings, and humiliation of Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilians. He bears direct responsibility for the mass murder of Ukrainian prisoners in Olenivka on July 28–29, 2022, after the Russian attack, deliberately delaying the evacuation of the wounded. The decision also includes several high-ranking officers and employees who subjected Ukrainian prisoners to degrading treatment in the Olenivka prison.

Another individual sanctioned is Oleksii Khavetskyi, head of the security service of correctional colony No. 7 in Pakino (Russia), where he organized systematic cruel treatment of Ukrainian prisoners of war. Under his leadership, prisoners were subjected to electric shocks, intentional starvation, as well as acts of sexual violence and extreme humiliation for the entertainment of the colony staff.

The Council also imposed sanctions on Yan Zanevskyi, an FSB employee involved in illegal detention and torture — such as beatings, strangulation, and sexual violence — against civilians in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, particularly in Kherson, Mykolaiv, and Zaporizhzhia regions.

The object of sanctions imposed today under this procedure is also pre-trial detention facility No. 2 in Taganrog, which is used to hold Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilians, including journalists and women, who suffer systematic torture leading to death, as happened in the case of journalist Victoria Roshchyna, who died in this facility after a year of imprisonment and had numerous signs of torture.

In addition, the Council today added seven more individuals to the list under another sanctions regime targeting human rights violations and abuses in Russia. In particular, the Council targets sanctions on the head of correctional colony No. 10 in the village of Udarnoye, Oleksandr Hnutov, his five deputies, and the head of the medical unit of this correctional colony, Halyna Mokshanova. All of them are responsible for abuses against prisoners committed by the staff of correctional colony No. 10, including against Ukrainian civilians and prisoners of war.

Reminder

EU diplomacy chief Kaja Kallas did not answer when the 21st package of sanctions against the Russian Federation will be adopted, noting that work is ongoing.