Sanctions Designations

Friday 9th December 2022 Written Statements

[The Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Anne-Marie Trevelyan)]

On 9 December, to mark International Anti-Corruption Day and Human Rights Day on 10 December, the UK announced a package of 30 sanctions under our global human rights, global anti-corruption and geographic sanctions regimes. Travel bans and/or asset freezes have been imposed on designated individuals and entities.

Covering targets from 11 countries, the package demonstrates the UK’s continued determination to take action to tackle corruption and to hold to account perpetrators of human rights abuses and violations.

Under the Global Anti-Corruption Regulations 2021, sanctions can be imposed for involvement in serious corruption, which covers bribery and misappropriation of property. The sanctions announced today include designations of individuals and entities involved in serious corruption in the western Balkans and Moldova.

Under the Global Human Rights Regulations 2020, sanctions can be imposed for involvement in serious violations and abuses of certain human rights: the right to life, the right to be free from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and the right to be free from slavery, not to be held in servitude or required to perform forced or compulsory labour. The sanctions announced today include designations addressing serious violations and abuses of human rights in Nicaragua, Pakistan, Russia and Uganda.

The UK’s geographic sanctions regimes are also a powerful tool for targeting perpetrators of, and those involved in, human rights abuses and violations that involve specific countries.

Designations announced today under our Mali, Myanmar, South Sudan and Iran regimes aim to send a strong signal about respect for human rights and the UK’s preparedness to take action. Designations under our Russia sanctions regime target those who have destabilised or threatened the territorial integrity of Ukraine.

The UK is also using all the levers at our disposal to prevent conflict-related sexual violence and to ensure that perpetrators are held to account. This is why today some of these designations specifically address the abhorrent crimes of sexual violence.

The full list of designations is as follows:

Western Balkans

Slobodan Tesic: Serbia/Bosnia, dealer of arms and munitions in the Balkans

Milan Radojcic: Kosovo, Vice President of Serb List (SL)

Zvonko Veselinovic: Kosovo, businessman and leader of an organised crime group

Moldova

Vladimir Plahotniuc: businessman and former chairman of the Democratic Party of Moldova (PDM)

Han Shor: businessman and Member of Parliament and chairman of the Sor Party Nicaragua

Yohaira Hernandez Chirino: Deputy Mayor of Matagalpa

Sadrach Zelodon Rocha: Mayor of Matagalpa Pakistan

Mian Abdul Haq: cleric of Barchundi Sharif shrine

Russia

Colonel Ramil Rakhmatulovic Ibatullin: Commander of the 90^th Guards Tank Division

Valentin Aleksandrovich Oparin: Major of Justice and an investigator of the 534 Military Investigation Department of the Armed Forces of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation

Artur Rinatovich Shambazov: former senior detective in the main department for the protection of national statehood of the Ukrainian security service (SBU) in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea

Andrey Vyacheslavovich Tishenin: former senior detective in Ukrainian security service and former officer in Russian federal security service in Crimea

Oleg Vladmirovich Tkachenko: former head of the Department for Public Prosecutors for the Rostov region

Uganda

Kale Kayihura: former Inspector General of the Ugandan Police Force

Mali

Katiba Macina: jihadist armed group in Mali led by Amadou Kouffa and founding member of the AQ-aligned JNIM terror group

Myanmar

33rd Light Infantry Division of Myanmar Army: part of the Myanmar armed forces under the command of Brigadier-General Aung Aung

99 Light Infantry of Myanmar Army: part of the Myanmar armed forces under the leadership of Brigadier-General Than Oo

Office of the Chief of Military and Security Affairs (OCMSA)

South Sudan

Gordon Koang Biel: County Commissioner for Koch, Unity State

Gatluak Nyang Hoth: County Commissioner for Mayendit, Unity State

Iran

Iman Afshari: Presiding Judge of Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court

Ali Alghasimehr: Public Prosecutor of the Revolutionary Court of Shiraz and Chief Justice of Fars province

Mohamed-Reza Amouzad: Presiding Judge of Branch 28 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court

Allah Karam Azizi: Head of Rajaei Shahr prison

Hassan Babaei: member of the Iranian Judiciary in Tehran province

Ali Cheharmahali: former Director of Greater Tehran Penitentiary and former Director of Evin prison

Mousa Gazanfarabad: former Head of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran

Seyed Ali Mazloum: Presiding Judge of Branch 29 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court

Mustafa Mohebi: former Director of the Prisons Organisation in Tehran

Gholamreza Ziyayi: former Director of Evin prison and Director of Raja’i Shahr prison

[HCWS432]