UK sanctions high-ranking Interior Ministry officials

The UK, in a coordinated action with the US, has sanctioned five senior individuals in Georgia’s Interior Ministry ‘responsible for violent attacks against journalists and peaceful protestors in Georgia’.

Those sanctioned are Minister of Internal Affairs Vakhtang Gomelauri,  Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Aleksandre Darakhvelidze, Director of the Tbilisi Police Department Sulkhan Tamazashvili, Head of the Special Tasks Department responsible for riot police Zviad Kharazishvili, and Kharazishvili’s deputy Mileri Lagazauri.

‘[They] face UK travel bans and asset freezes, excluding them from the UK and its economy’, the statement read.

The sanctions follow action taken by the UK government last week to suspend support to Georgian government programmes and restrict defence cooperation.

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy stated that ‘our action today shows that the UK stands with the people of Georgia and will consider all options to ensure those responsible are held to account’.

‘The shocking violence inflicted upon protestors, opposition leaders and journalists is an egregious attack on democracy, and the Georgian people’s right to exercise their fundamental freedoms’, he said.