EU agrees new round of sanctions on Belarus

(BRUSSELS) - The European Union agreed Monday to slap sanctions on 21 judicial officials and police in Belarus deemed responsible for repressing the opposition.

The sanctions, agreed by the bloc's 27 foreign ministers, are to be formally adopted on Tuesday by European affairs ministers meeting in Brussels, an EU diplomat said.

"There are 19 magistrates and two highly-placed police officers considered to be behind the arrest and sentencing of people opposed to the regime," the source said.

To win over Slovenia, ministers agreed to reassess in future a proposal to extend sanctions to a Belarus oligarch, Yuri Chizh, who is close to President Alexander Lukashenko and owns the Dinamo Minsk football club, diplomats said.

He recently signed major construction contracts in Slovenia.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said talks to sanction companies operating in Belarus would take place next March.

The EU had already slapped an assets freeze and visa ban on 210 people over the continuing repression by Lukashenko's regime of civil society, the political opposition, and the independent media.

The assets of three entities linked to the regime also remain frozen while exports to Belarus of arms and materials that might be used for internal repression are prohibited.

The latest measures were taken in December following the controversial trial of human rights campaigner Ales Beliatsky.

He is the leader of the banned "Vyasna" (Spring) human rights group and a leading opponent of Lukashenko, who has the ruled ex-Soviet republic since 1994.

3149th FOREIGN AFFAIRS Council meeting (provisional version) - Brussels, 27 February 2012