“Yanukovych demanded that the EU sanctions be eliminated, claiming that at the time of their introduction against him in Ukraine allegedly did not initiate criminal cases, and Brussels “had no specific evidence”. However, on September 10, the EU Court rejected his complaint”, – WRITE: www.radiosvoboda.org
Yanukovych, who held the position of Head of the Ukrainian State from 2010 to 2014 and fled to Russia after the events of the Euromaidan, for the first time was under restrictive EU measures in 2014. Then he was banned from entering European countries and frozen assets. In 2022, sanctions were expanded after Russia’s full -scale invasion of Ukraine.
Yanukovych demanded that the EU sanctions be eliminated, claiming that at the time of their introduction against him in Ukraine allegedly did not initiate criminal cases, and Brussels “had no specific evidence”. However, on September 10, the EU Court rejected his complaint.
The judge’s decision stressed that Yanukovych’s actions in the post of president “clearly contributed to the destabilization of the country” and gave legitimate grounds to include it in the sanctions list. The court also acknowledged that Viktor Yanukovych had never distanced himself from the Russian authorities after escaping and was involved in the “plan” of President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky in March 2022.
His son, Oleksandr Yanukovych, who is also under EU sanctions, also tried to challenge the restriction, but the court rejected his complaint.
In January 2019, Yanukovych was convicted in Ukraine for treason and assistance to a aggressive war, the court appointed him 13 years of imprisonment.
In April this year, the Podilsky District Court of Kyiv in absentia sentenced Yanukovych to 15 years in prison, pleading guilty of organizing the illegal crossing of the border and inciting for desertion. Together with him, the former head of the Security Service of the President of Ukraine Konstantin Kobzar was also convicted in absentia.
According to Radio Svoboda editor Ricard Jezvyak, the EU Court also rejected the appeal of the Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich to exclude sanctions from the list. According to him, the decision of the Court of Justice is important, in particular, given that the EU on Friday hopes to continue its sanctions against about 2,600 Russian persons and organizations.
Hungary and Slovakia again demand from the European Union to exclude six Russian businessmen from the sanctions lists, threatening veto imposing on the continuation of EU sanctions against Russia. Today’s solution should weaken their positions, says Radio Liberty correspondent.