Brussels, 06/10/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 6 October, the EU General Court annulled most of the measures of the Council of the EU freezing the funds of Belarus football club Dynamo-Minsk.
In March 2012, the Council added the name of Yury Aleksandrovich Chyzh to the list of persons whose funds were to be frozen. The Council added Chyzh's name to those lists on the ground,in particular, that he provided financial support to the Lukashenko regime through his company,Triple. The company's funds and economic resources, along with those of its subsidiaries and the Dynamo-Minsk football club were frozen because Chyzh chaired the company's management board.
In two rulings (cases T-275/12 and T-276/12), the European General Court annulled the majority of the measures by which the Council froze the funds. The court explains that the Council did not provide any evidence that Chyzh financially supported President Lukashenko's regime.
As for Triple, the court pointed out a legal error and lack of evidence. The legal error is due to the fact that the company could not have sanctions issued against it at the time simply because it was owned by Chyzh, because it was not until later that EU law gave the Council the right to apply the freezing of an individual's financial resources to bodies or companies controlled by that person.
Finally, the court found that the unlawful adding of the name of Triple to the sanctions list also mars the legality of the listing of its subsidiaries, including the Dynamo-Minsk football club. (Original version in French by Jan Kordys)