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Former Ukrainian president Yanukovich, his sons to contest sanctions in court

Yanukovich says that the freeze on his assets in Europe violates the ownership rights guaranteed by the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights

© AP Photo/Ivan Sekretarev

BRUSSELS, August 04, 23:45 /ITAR-TASS/. Former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich, his sons and a Ukrainian entrepreneur Sergei Kurchenko have filed a petition with the European Court of Human Rights contesting the EU sanctions against them.

Yanukovich and Kucherenko are demanding that the Council of the European Union cancel its resolutions of March 5 and April 15 which denied them entry to the EU and put a freeze on their assets in European countries.

The complainants believe that the Council of the European Union did not have sufficient evidence for making the decision which they said was politically motivated and aimed to favour the interim government in Ukraine and punish them for suspending the country’s European integration.

Yanukovich says that the freeze on his assets in Europe violates the ownership rights guaranteed by the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and is illegitimate since at the time the sanctions were imposed Ukrainian law enforcement agencies were not conducting an investigation into possible “unlawful alienation of state assets and their transfer abroad”.

Yanukovich also disagreed with being referred to as “ex-president” in the resolutions of the Council of the European Union.

On March 5, the Council imposed sanctions against Yanukovich and 17 of his close associates who it said were responsible for misuse of budget funds. The Council enlarged the sanctions list on Aril 14.

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