US Sanctions 5 Russian Officials for Alleged Human Rights Violations
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The United States imposed sanctions on five Russian officials it accuses of human rights abuses including four it claimed were involved in the 2009 death in prison of a Russian lawyer.
The US State and Treasury Departments identified on Monday Aleksey Anichin, Boris Kibis, Pavel Lapshov and Oleg Urzhumtsev as Russian officials allegedly involved in the death of Sergei Magnitsky, whose died in prison.
A fifth official named on Monday, Yevgeni Antonov, ran a prison in Chechny, a senior State Department official said, Reuters reported.
As a result of the sanctions, the five are banned from obtaining US visas, and any assets they hold in the United States are frozen.
Magnitsky died at age 37 in 2009 after a year in jail. He was found guilty of tax evasion in 2013 in a posthumous trial.
The 2012 US Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act authorizes the United States to sanction those involved in Magnitsky's death and detention or found responsible for certain human rights violations in Russia.
Anichin was head of the Russian Interior Ministry's investigative department and authorized the criminal case under which Magnitsky was arrested, the senior State Department official said. Lapshov was head of the Russian Interior Ministry's investigative department of organized criminal activity, while Kibis and Urzhumtsev were involved in the posthumous prosecution of Magnitsky, the official said.
Monday's addition to the list raises the number of people sanctioned under the 2012 law to 39, State Department spokesman John Kirby said in a statement.
