EU Sanctions Against Belarus — 1st Package (October 2020)

The European Union imposed its first round of restrictive measures against Belarus on 2 October 2020, in direct response to the fraudulent presidential election of 9 August 2020 and the violent crackdown on peaceful protesters that followed.

Background

The Belarusian presidential election of 9 August 2020 was widely condemned by the international community as neither free nor fair. Official results claimed that incumbent Alexander Lukashenko had won with approximately 80% of the vote, a result rejected by the opposition, independent observers and the majority of EU member states. In the weeks that followed, hundreds of thousands of Belarusians took to the streets across the country. The Lukashenko authorities responded with mass arrests, beatings and torture of detainees, and a systematic campaign of intimidation against civil society, journalists and opposition figures.

Measures Adopted

The Council of the European Union adopted Council Decision (CFSP) 2020/1482 and Council Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1479, placing 40 individuals on the EU sanctions list. The listed persons were identified as responsible for:

• Serious human rights violations, including arbitrary arrests and detentions
• Violence against peaceful demonstrators and civilians
• Acts of intimidation and repression directed at civil society and opposition representatives

The restrictive measures applied to each listed individual consist of:

• Travel ban: prohibition on entering or transiting through EU territory
• Asset freeze: all funds and economic resources owned or controlled by listed persons in the EU are frozen
• Prohibition on making funds available to listed individuals, directly or indirectly

Persons Listed

The initial list of 40 individuals included senior officials of the Belarusian Interior Ministry, commanders of security forces and special units, prosecutors, and judges involved in the judicial persecution of protesters and political opponents. President Lukashenko himself was not included in this first package, following diplomatic considerations related to the ongoing political negotiations.

Legal Basis

The sanctions were adopted under the legal framework of Council Regulation (EC) No 765/2006, which concerns restrictive measures in view of the situation in Belarus and was originally established in response to earlier human rights concerns in the country. The 2020 measures significantly expanded both the legal basis and the scope of existing instruments.

EU Statement

High Representative Josep Borrell stated that the EU "does not accept the results of the elections as presented by the Belarusian authorities" and that the sanctions were a direct response to the "violence against peaceful protesters and the serious human rights violations that have occurred."

Subsequent Developments

This first package marked the beginning of a series of successive sanctions rounds. Within two months, the EU adopted two further packages (November and December 2020), expanding the list to over 80 individuals and adding entities to the designated list for the first time.