The European Parliament (EP) has blacklisted eight MEPs and reprimanded three others for going on fake election-observation trips.
But a co-chair of the body that imposed the sanctions was said to have taken a soft approach to a member of his own political family, risking accusations of partisanship.
Five of the blacklisted MEPs were French politicians from the EP's far-right Identity and Democracy group.
These were Virigine Joron, Hervé Juvin, Jean-Lin Lacapelle, Thierry...
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Andrew Rettman is EUobserver's foreign editor, writing about foreign and security issues since 2005. He is Polish, but grew up in the UK, and lives in Brussels. He has also written for The Guardian, The Times of London, and Intelligence Online.