Brussels, 12/06/2014 (Agence Europe) - Individuals who are not European citizens and whose assets have been frozen on the territory of the EU may nonetheless call for these funds to be released in order to be able to pay the lawyers who are challenging the measures, even if these monies may originate from illegal activities. This is the view taken by the Court of Justice of the EU in a ruling (C-314/13) returned on Thursday 12 June in a case involving an adviser to the president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko.
In 2011, the Council of the EU froze the assets of Vladimir Peftiev, who is closely linked to President Lukashenko, over the breaches of democracy which have troubled Belarus since 2006. Peftiev decided to enlist the services of a Lithuanian law firm to challenge the Council decision before the General Court of the EU. However, when it came to settling his bill, the money transferred was frozen by the Lithuanian authorities. Do these authorities have absolute discretionary powers to grant a derogation to the restrictive measures of the EU? And if not, what criteria must they take as their basis to release the funds?
According to the European judges, the national authorities do not have unlimited freedom over this issue, as they must above all make sure that the fundamental right of recourse to justice, a right enshrined in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU, is respected. They must therefore release the frozen assets so that the interested party can pay the lawyers challenging the measures before the General Court. The same authorities must also ensure that these monies are then used to pay reasonable fees and reimburse expenses related to the legal services rendered. As for the provenance of the funds, the fact that they could have been acquired illegally has no impact on the examination of the derogation, the Court finds. (JK)