EU courts upheld additional challenges to EU sanctions this quarter, refusing to give credence to evidence that the European Council claims to have relied on as the basis for the sanctions at issue but will not disclose. In July, the EU General Court overturned the blacklisting of Iran's Sharif University of Technology and former Syrian Economy and Trade Minister Mohamad Nedal Alchaar. In the case of Sharif University, the EU had imposed an asset freeze based on the provision of support to Iran's nuclear proliferation activities. The General Court found that the European Union had not met its burden of proof, largely because of the European Council's refusal to turn over the evidence on which it relied in making this determination. In the case of Mr. Alchaar, the General Court held that the European Union was within its rights to sanction him during the time that he was a government minister, but that after Mr. Alchaar left office in May 2012, the European Union had to be able to provide evidence of his continued links to the Assad regime and his joint responsibility for government actions in order to remain sanctionable. EU sanctions targeting Mazen Al Tabbaa and Samir Hassan were annulled due to the Council's failure to prove their ties to the Syrian regime or other sanctioned persons. Also in July, the General Court annulled sanctions targeting the NITC because the European Council had no evidence to support its claim that NITC was effectively controlled by the Iranian government. The General Court also ruled in favor of Moallem Insurance Co., which the European Union listed for being the main insurer of IRISL, finding that the European Council had not provided sufficient evidence to support the designation. Similarly, the General Court annulled the listings of Sorinet Commercial Trust Bankers and Babak Zanjani based on the Council's failure to provide sufficient evidence to support the published reasons for their designations. However, the General Court rejected NIOC's challenge to having been designated based on the Iran's ownership and control over the entity. In September, the General Court annulled sanctions targeting Ahmed Qadhaf al Dam, a cousin of former Libyan ruler Moammar Qaddafi who is alleged to have been involved in planning operations against Libyan dissidents abroad and other terrorist activity. The sanctions were first imposed in 2011 and renewed in both April 2013 and June 2014. The General Court found that there was no apparent reason for renewing the sanctions against al Dam in the spring of 2013, more than a year after the Qaddafi regime had fallen, as the EU had not sufficiently established that he represented a threat to restoring civil peace in Libya. The General Court also lifted travel and financial restrictions targeting Belarusian television anchor Aliaksei Mikhalchanka that were imposed in 2011 following the Belarusian government's crackdown on opposition figures and activists. Again, the General Court held that the European Union had failed to provide sufficient proof of Mr. Mikhalchanka's influence within Belarus and had not given him the opportunity to defend himself when the restrictions against him were renewed in 2012. However, the General Court rejected a challenge by Vadzim Ipatau, listed as the vice-chairman of Belarus' Central Electoral Commission, finding that the European Council was entitled to regard him as jointly responsible for violations of international standards in the 2010 presidential election, given his position. Finally, the European Union's initial freeze on the assets of the Central Bank of Iran were struck down by the Court of Justice in Luxembourg, which ruled that the sanctions were based on confidential evidence from an unidentified member state, unlawfully preventing Iran from being able to present a defense. There is no practical consequence to the Court's ruling, as there are other sanctions targeting the Central Bank of Iran that remain in force. On September 18, the General Court rejected a claim for damages brought by former Zimbabwean Deputy Minister for Economic Planning and Development, Aguy Georgias, and his companies Trinity Engineering and Georgiadis Trucking. Interestingly, the Court allowed Mr. Georgias to pursue this claim even though he had not brought an application to annul his designation. Mr. Georgias had claimed that he suffered damages as a result of being subject to EU sanctions from 2007 to 2011, including damages from his inability to enter the UK and legal fees, business losses, and medical expenses.
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