Cameron guarantees to carry these accountable accountable as Navalny's mom takes authorized motion to get well his physique.
The UK has imposed sanctions on six officers overseeing the Arctic penal colony the place Russian opposition chief Alexey Navalny died.
The sanctions, introduced Wednesday by British International Secretary David Cameron, goal the top and 5 deputy heads of the IK-3 penal colony in Kharp in Russia's Yamal-Nenets area, who now face the ban on coming into the UK and frozen
“These liable for the brutal remedy of Navalny ought to be beneath no illusions – we’ll maintain them accountable,” Cameron stated.
“It’s clear that the Russian authorities noticed Navalny as a risk and have repeatedly tried to silence him.”
The UK is the primary nation to impose sanctions in response to Navalny's dying, the International Workplace stated, describing him as “a political prisoner who has devoted his life to exposing the corruption of the Russian system, calling for a free and open coverage, and so they maintain. the Kremlin is accountable.”
🔴 SANCTIONED: leaders of the Arctic penal colony the place Alexei Navalny was killed. pic.twitter.com/2FZn0W5b73
– International, Commonwealth and Improvement Workplace (@FCDOGovUK) February 21, 2024
The sanctioned people included Vadim Konstantinovich Kalinin, who oversaw the jail the place Navalny was held in solitary confinement for as much as two weeks at a time, it added.
The penal colony about 1,900 km (1,200 miles) northeast of Moscow is taken into account one of many hardest in Russia. Its inmates are convicted of significant crimes.
Russian authorities stated the reason for the sudden dying of 47-year-old Navalny on February 16 within the colony, referred to as the “Polar Wolf”, remains to be unknown and so they refused to launch his physique for the subsequent two weeks , pending a preliminary investigation.
On Wednesday, Navalny's mom, Lyudmila Navalnaya, filed a lawsuit in a court docket within the city of Salekhard close to the penal colony, contesting the officers' refusal to launch her son's physique so they might bury him with dignity.
A closed-door listening to was scheduled for March 4, Russian state information company TASS reported.
Navalny's widow, Yulia Navalnaya, launched a video on Monday saying authorities had not but handed over his physique as a result of they have been ready for traces of the Novichok nerve agent to vanish.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed the allegations of a cover-up and the alleged involvement of President Vladimir Putin as “baseless, insolent accusations in opposition to the top of the Russian state.”
The UK's determination to take focused punitive motion in opposition to jail chiefs coincides with US plans to impose sanctions in opposition to Russia over the dying of Putin critic and the two-year battle in Ukraine, which ought to be introduced on Friday.
Cameron will attend the G20 overseas ministers' assembly in Brazil in a while Wednesday and the International Workplace stated he would “use the chance to name out Russia's aggression and its international influence on to Russian International Minister Sergey Lavrov.”