Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of (a) Magnitsky-style or (b) other sanctions against supporters of the Belariusian regime in response to the recent jailing of journalists in Belarus and other reported human rights abuses in that country.

On 29 September, with Canada, the UK implemented sanctions on Alexander Lukashenko, his son and six other members of the Belarusian senior leadership under the Global Human Rights sanctions regime for serious human rights abuses linked to the presidential election in August. We welcomed the EU's decision to impose sanctions on other linked officials, and have transferred these listings into the UK sanctions regime. We remain concerned by the situation in Belarus and are considering future designations carefully, guided by the evidence and objectives of the sanctions regime. It is not appropriate to speculate publicly on future designations.