Brussels, 12/01/2015 (Agence Europe) - The General Court of the EU has confirmed through a court order of 22 December 2014 (case T407/13) that Bushra al-Assad, the sister of the current Syrian president and widow of deputy chief of staff of the Syrian army, should be kept on the list of people and organisations subject to European Union sanctions. She therefore continues to be banned from entering or transiting the territory of the EU, and her assets remain frozen within the EU.
After her first request was disallowed in March 2014 (Case T202/12 - see EUROPE 11037) for the sanctions to be lifted that were imposed by the Council in March 2012, Bushra al-Assad made another appeal, calling for the Council's six acts to be annulled. The General Court ruled that the appeal was inadmissible as regards four of these acts, noting “the authority of a final decision”. It rejected the appeal on the other two acts for the same reasons as in its previous ruling - that Bushra al-Assad benefits from the Syrian regime due to her close personal relationship, and closely linked financial relationship, with the Syrian president and other senior figures in the regime. (FG)