The Syrian Central Bank's complaint against its inclusion into Switzerland's sanction list relating to Syrian organizations and individuals is not admissible. The Swiss Federal Supreme Court ruled last week not to take the central bank's complaint against a decision of the Swiss Federal Administrative Court, which rejected the removal of the central bank from the list of sanctions. In May 2011, Switzerland adopted the pertaining sanctions issued by the European Union, amongst them against the Syrian Central Bank, whose assets deposited in Switzerland were subsequently blocked. The Swiss sanction list was revised in June 2012, but continued to name the Syrian Central Bank. In 2014, the Swiss Federal Administrative Court dismissed the central bank's complaint requesting a removal from the sanction list.
In a public hearing held last week, Swiss Federal Supreme Court declared the bank's renewed complaint as inadmissible as the blocking of its assets concerns the foreign affairs of Switzerland. A complaint would have only been admissible if the Syrian Central Bank had a pertaining treaty claim.
According to the Swiss Federal Supreme Court, this restriction should have applied as well to a complaint procedure before the Federal Administrative Court. The Syrian Central Bank argued a treaty claim under Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights which provides a general right to a judicial review of all civil rights. This treaty claim is however, limited to individuals and non-governmental organizations, whilst the Syrian Central Bank was clearly a governmental organization. The Syrian Central Bank also pleaded its state sovereignty and immunity rights which were not either heard by the Swiss Federal Supreme Court.
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