The General Court of the European Union lifted the sanctions against ex-prosecutor Viktor Pshonka and his son Artem. Pshonka managed to win the court case.
Bloomberg writes about it.
The courtʼs decision states that the Council of the European Union made erroneous assessments in justifying the sanctions. At the same time, the court doubts that the Ukrainian judicial administration respected the right to protect the former prosecutor general in local criminal proceedings.
Pshonka and his son first came under EU sanctions in 2014 as individuals subject to criminal prosecution in Ukraine for embezzlement of state funds and their illegal transfer abroad. During Yanukovychʼs time, Viktor Pshonka was the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, and after 2014 he and his son fled to Russia.
- For the first time, the Council of the EU passed a decision on sanctions against Yanukovych and his entourage and froze their assets in 2014 — then there were 18 people on the list. But over the years, after the lawsuits of the sanctioned persons to the European courts, this list has been reduced. In particular, in December 2020, the EU court actually declared the Council of Europeʼs decision to extend sanctions against former Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, who fled to Russia, illegal in 2019.
- In March 2021, the Council of the EU officially excluded from the sanctions list two former high-ranking officials of Viktor Yanukovychʼs time — former the Prime Minister Serhiy Arbuzov and former Minister of Education Dmytro Tabachnyk.