Canada slaps sanctions on 13 Russian officials for Navalny's death and human rights abuses

The restrictions were imposed against high-ranking officials and high-ranking employees of Russian investigative bodies, the penitentiary service and the police who were involved in the ill-treatment of Navalny and his death.

These include the poisoning of the Russian oppositionist with a Novichok chemical nerve agent in 2020, his unlawful detention at the Moscow airport in 2021 upon his return to Russia after receiving treatment for poisoning in Germany, the violation of his human rights in detention, the failure to investigate the cause of his death, and the long delay in handing over his remains to his family.

Minister Joly also reaffirmed “Canada’s ongoing commitment to hold those who commit human rights abuses to account, including standing up against the Putin regime and work towards a Russia free from corruption.”

"As we are living in a period of multiple interconnected crises, it is important to keep the focus on the efforts of Russians in their fight for basic rights and freedom," she stated.

“Today’s sanctions further demonstrate a strong front against the Kremlin’s continued gross violations of human rights and its suppression of Russian civil society and political opposition.”

The death of Alexei Navalny

The Russian authorities reported the death of 47-year-old opposition leader Alexei Navalny in a penal colony in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug in the Russian Far North on Feb. 16, 2024.

According to Navalny's team, the medical report on his death, which was shown to his mother, Lyudmila Navalnaya, stated that the cause of death was natural. Navalny has spent the last three years in prison.

He was buried on March 1 at the Borisovskoye Cemetery in Moscow.