European Court of Justice repeals sanctions against Azarov, ex-officials

28.01.2016 12:47

Ukrinform

The European Court of Justice has repealed the decision of the Council of the European Union on the imposition of personal sanctions against five former Ukrainian high-ranking officials of the Yanukovych’s regime.

A Court’s representative said this to an Ukrinform correspondent.

"The European Court of Justice repealed the freeze on assets of five Ukrainians, including Mykola Azarov and Serhiy Arbuzov, former prime ministers of Ukraine, which had been imposed in the period from March 6, 2014 to March 5, 2015. A person cannot be held liable for the misappropriation of assets just on the basis of a preliminary investigation in the country and without the information against them in course of the investigation, available to the Council of the European Union," the Court’s representative explained.

This decision also refers to former MP Oleksiy Azarov, MP Serhiy Klyuyev and former Energy and Coal Industry Minister of Ukraine Eduard Stavytsky.

The Court noted that the letter, received from the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine, did not contain specific information concerning the charges against the above-mentioned five persons.