New rules for issuing licences for sanctioned individuals to pursue legal action in the UK reveal that ministers should take decisions in controversial cases – not civil servants, as the government previously claimed.
The rules were updated at the end of March following an internal review conducted after openDemocracy reported that the government had granted special permission for sanctioned Russian warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin to sue a British journalist who exposed his crimes.
But the government has refused to publish the rules that applied when that decision was taken, prompting Labour MP Liam Byrne to ask: “What are ministers trying to hide?”
