Head of prison in Horki hit by EU sanctions for torture

Three Belarusian officials were included in the updated blacklist of the EU.

A European source said to charter97.org that the Belarusian media wrote only about two new persons on the list – the head of correctional colony No. 2 in Babruisk Aliaksandr Kakunin and deputy head of the same colony Yury Trutko. But the EU sanctions were imposed on another representative of the Belarusian penitentiary system. Head of the correctional colony in Horki Aliaksandr Lapatko (Alexander Lopatko) was included in the EU blacklist.

The new list, which was officially published today, says he was hit by sanctions for being “responsible for inhumane treatment of D. Dashkevich, including tortures and denial of access to legal representation. Lopatko used threats of physical and sexual violence in order to force D. Dashkevich into signing an appeal for pardon.”

We remind that the European Union extended sanctions against official Minsk for a year. The list of persons and entities banned from entering the EU and subject to a freeze of the assets in Europe was updated. The EU sanctions are imposed on 232 persons and 25 entities. Earlier, the blacklist included 30 companies and 242 officials and oligarchs.