EU General Court annuls listings of 7 Ukrainians

The EU General Court has annulled the acts designating: Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych, former President; and his son, Oleksandr Viktorovych Yanukovych (T-244/16 & T-285/17) from March 2016 – March 2018; and, from March 2018 – March 2019: Oleksandr Klymenko, former Minister of Revenue and Duties (T-274/18); Sergej Arbuzov, former Prime Minister (T-284/18); Viktor Pshonka, former Prosecutor General (T-285/18); Artem Pshonka, his son (T-289/18); and Andriy Klyuyev, former Head of President’s Administration (T-305/18).

The Court applied the judgment of the Court of justice in Azarov v Council (C-530/17): the Council is obliged to, “before acting on the basis of a decision of an authority of a third State, verify whether that decision was adopted in accordance with the rights of the defence and the right to effective judicial protection”. The Court found that the letters and decisions of Ukrainian judicial authorities contained insufficient information to verify that these decisions had been adopted in accordance with the Azarov test. All the individuals except Mr Klyuyev are still listed because these challenges did not cover their most recent re-listings, see post.