Thursday, January 28, 2016

EU court strikes down sanctions on Yanukovych allies

The Court of Justice of the European Union in Luxembourg has ruled that the European Council was wrong to freeze the assets of five close associates of ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.

The ruling on January 28 passed by the EU's General Court concerns former Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov Azarov's son Oleksiy, ex-NBU governor Serhiy Arbuzov, former Energy Minister Eduard Stavytsky, and brother of the former head of presidential administration, businessman Serhiy Kliuyev.


According to the document posted on the official website of the Court of Justice of the European Union, "a person cannot be treated as being responsible for misappropriation of funds solely on the ground that he is the subject of a preliminary investigation in a third country, without the Council being aware of the matters alleged against that person in that investigation."

Thus, in today's judgments, "the General Court upholds the actions brought by the five Ukrainians and annuls the freezing of assets imposed on them for the period from March 6 2014 to March 5, 2015."

The ruling can be appealed within two months before the European Court of Justice.




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