WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th May, 2019) The United States has imposed sanctions on Chechnya's Terek Special Rapid Response Team along with five individuals, including three Russians, the US Department of the Treasury said in a press release on Thursday.
"Today, the US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated five individuals and one entity pursuant to the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2012 (the Magnitsky Act)," the release said.
The designations include Russian nationals Ruslan Geremeyev, Elena Anatolievna Trikulya and Abuzayed Vismuradov, along with Gennady Vyacheslavovich Karlov and Sergey Leonidovich Kossiev, the release said.
"Treasury continues to impose costs on those involved in the detention, abuse, and death of Sergei Magnitsky, and is committed to addressing broader human rights violations across Russia," Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Sigal Mandelker said in the release. "We are focused on holding accountable those responsible for atrocious acts within Russia, including the extrajudicial killing of Boris Nemtsov and the pervasive abuse of LGBTI [lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual and intersex]persons in Chechnya."
Trikulya and Karlov were sanctioned for their participation in trying to conceal the legal liability for the detention, abuse or death of Sergei Magnitsky, the release said.
Magnitsky, an attorney and auditor who exposed a $230 million tax fraud among Russia Interior Ministry officials, was subjected to physical and psychological pressure while detained, and on November 16, 2009, he died in a pretrial detention center in Moscow, Russia, the release noted.
Vismuradov, Kossiev, Gremeyev and the Terek Special Response Teams were added to the list for their role in extrajudicial killings, torture and other violations of human rights in Russia, according to the release.
