Sri Lanka: European Court annuls EU restrictions on LTTE
4TH LEAD [TamilNet, Thursday, 16 October 2014, 08:40 GMT] In a landmark victory for the legal initiatives of Eezham Tamils, the Court of Justice of the European Union has ordered the Council of European Union on Thursday to annul the restrictive measures taken against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The case has been won by the LTTE on procedural grounds, said the lawyers representing the LTTE. Commenting on the judgement, Mr Lathan Suntharalingam, one of the initiators of the legal move against EU ban on LTTE said: More than 40 countries in the world directly and indirectly abetted the Sri Lankan State in its genocidal onslaught on Eezham Tamils. The US paradigm of War Against Terror was used to crush the LTTE-defended State of Eezham Tamils. The ECJ verdict on Thursday is a milestone achievement for Eezham Tamils in demanding global justice against the Tamil genocide. The Court annulled specific restrictive measures directed against certain persons and entities by the EU with its view of combating terrorism.
In addition, the Court has ordered the Council of the European Union, which lost the case, to pay its own costs and the costs of the LTTE. The Netherlands, the UK and the European Commission were ordered to bear their own respective costs.
The court decision will come to effect after three months.
Finding the current restrictions implemented by the EU inappropriate, the Court has given a minimum period of two months, extended on account of distance by 10 days, for the EU to come out with a new restrictive measure with respect to the LTTE, if appropriate.
The case, initiated by Tamil activists on behalf of the LTTE and originally filed in April 2011 with additions later, was represented by the lawyers V. Koppe, A. M. van Eik and T. Buruma.
The Council of the European Union was the defendant, supported by the Netherlands, the UK and the European Commission.
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) is the highest court in the European Union in matters of European Union law.
The judgement was delivered in open court in Luxembourg on 16 October 2014.
The judgement part of the court document follows:
The case came under following title:
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Sri Lanka: European Court annuls EU restrictions on LTTE