Brussels, 15/11/2012 (Agence Europe) - In a judgement on 15 November (Case C-417/11), the EU Court of Justice sets aside the 2011 judgement of the General Court annulling the European Union acts freezing the assets of Ms Nadiany Bamba, the second wife of and major support to the 2010 presidential campaign of the former Ivorian president, Laurent Gbagbo, who has been held by the International Criminal Court since 2011. The CJEU considers that the Council had provided a sufficient statement of reasons for the inclusion of Bamba on the list of persons considered as obstructing the process of peace and reconciliation in Côte d'Ivoire.
In January 2011, the Council had placed Bamba on the list, freezing her funds and depriving her of a visa, saying that, as the director of the Cyclone group, and editor of the daily Le Temps, she had caused “obstruction of the peace and reconciliation processes through public incitement to hatred and violence and through participation in disinformation campaigns in connection with the 2010 presidential election”. At Bamba's request, the General Court had cancelled these acts, saying that the Council had not given sufficient motivation other than vague and general considerations for including Bamba on the list (see EUROPE 10394). The Council therefore appealed for cancellation of the ruling by the General Court, stating that it had provided a detailed description of the situation in Côte d'Ivoire which is sufficiently serious to justify its measures against certain persons, as well as specific and concrete measures justifying restrictive measures against Bamba. In its ruling, the CJEU considered that the Council had given sufficient motivation for its decision since it had set out: - the general context (the gravity of the situation in the country and the threat to international peace and security coming from an obstruction to the national reconciliation process), which had led it to extend the list of persons targeted, this context being, moreover, known to the person concerned; - the specific and concrete elements (functions held by Bamba in the editor group, the type of acts and press campaigns that she had conducted) demonstrating her involvement in the obstruction of peace and justifying inclusion on the list. The Court consequently annulled the ruling and confirmed the Council's measures. (FG/transl.jl)