EU Council maintains human rights sanctions and sets 9 October evidence deadline

The Council of the European Union has notified 13 listed individuals that it intends to maintain the restrictive measures imposed on them under the EU’s global human rights sanctions regime, with amended statements of reasons or evidence. The notice was published in the Official Journal of the European Union, C series, of 2 October 2026 under reference C/2026/5158. Those concerned have until 9 October 2026 to ask the Council for the intended statements of reasons for their designation or for the evidence supporting it.

The regime behind the notice

The measures derive from Council Decision (CFSP) 2020/1999 and Council Regulation (EU) 2020/1998 concerning restrictive measures against serious human rights violations and abuses. Both instruments were published in Official Journal L 410 I of 7 December 2020, at page 13 and page 1 respectively. The persons addressed in the notice are those appearing in the Annex to the Decision and in Annex I to the Regulation.

The notice states that the Council “envisages to maintain the restrictive measures against the above-mentioned persons with amended statements of reasons or evidence”, meaning the listings are set to continue but on a revised factual basis.

Who is covered

The notice is addressed to 13 named individuals, identified by their entry numbers in the sanctions annexes:

• Alexander (Alexandr) Ivanovich BASTRYKIN (No. 2)
• Igor Viktorovich KRASNOV (No. 3)
• Hailun ZHU (No. 5)
• Junzheng WANG (No. 6)
• Mingshan WANG (No. 7)
• Mingguo CHEN (No. 8)
• Kyong-thaek JONG, also known as Kyo’ng-t’aek CHO’NG (No. 9)
• Sergei Gennadievich PODOPRIGOROV (No. 43)
• Natalia Nikolaevna DUDAR (No. 89)
• Petr Pavlovich SERKOV (No. 101)
• Nikolay Viktorovich TIMOSHIN (No. 103)
• Abdel Karim Mahmoud (Mahmood, Mohammad) IBRAHIM (No. 115)
• Ali Mahmoud ABBAS (No. 116)

How and where to request the evidence

The notice sets a single procedural step for the listed persons: a request to the Council to obtain the intended statements of reasons or the evidence. The request must be submitted before 9 October 2026, to:

• Council of the European Union, General Secretariat, RELEX.1
• Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat 175, 1048 Bruxelles/Brussel, Belgium
• Email: sanctions@consilium.europa.eu

The document carries the European Legislation Identifier http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2026/5158/oj.

Why it matters

The notice confirms that the EU’s human rights sanctions framework remains active and that at least 13 designations are being carried forward rather than lifted. For the individuals named, the one-week window is the only opportunity announced in the Official Journal to obtain the revised grounds and evidence before the measures are maintained, and it fixes a hard procedural deadline of 9 October 2026.

Source: Official Journal of the European Union, C series, C/2026/5158, 2 October 2026, section I (official reference: C_202605158).