LONDON - The lawyers for Russian businessman Arkady Rotenberg have filed a claim with the Supreme Court of the European Union seeking the lifting of the restrictions imposed by the EU on Rotenberg over the situation in Ukraine.
The lawyers said in their claim that the EU failed to provide sufficient and good evidence when it imposed the restrictions on Rotenberg.
Lord Pannick, a lawyer for Rotenberg, told reporters on Friday: ” The reputational harm and the serious damage to Mr. Rotenberg’s business activities and private life, caused by his inclusion in the restrictive measures, are enormous […] The freeze on his assets and economic resources is disproportionate to any legitimate aim.” The lawyer said the defense lawyers will continue using all lawful mechanisms to get the sanctions lifted.
Rotenberg’s lawyers declare the following objections: “The EU Council failed to provide adequate or sufficient evidence for imposing the asset ban and travel restrictions. Mr. Rotenberg has not yet received clarification regarding which of the alleged Sanction Criteria apply to him, despite having written to the EU Council several times.” The application further states: “As long as the criteria are not clear, the Defence is not able to respond in any meaningful way to the case, and the court is not able to exercise effective judicial review.”
The lawyers believe the EU Council has supplied ‘vague and unparticularised’ reasoning as to the inclusion of Arkady Rotenberg in the restrictive measures. “For example, the Council has not clarified its claim that Mr. Rotenberg ‘developed his fortune during President Putin’s tenure’. Subject to question is the time period to which the Council refers, the amount of money claimed to have been gained, and the verifiable link between Mr. Rotenberg and President Putin,” the claim states.
The lawyers believe “the EU Council relied heavily on materials holding ‘demonstrable error of fact’. The Council falsely claims that Mr Rotenberg benefits from the annexation of Crimea through his alleged holding of shares in Giprotransmost, a company contracted to conduct feasibility research on the construction of a bridge from Russia to the Crimea. Arkady Rotenberg has already informed the Council that he holds no shares in Giprotranosmost; making a majority holding impossible.”
The lawyers also said that “other rebuttal arguments include the Council’s breach of data protection principles and a failure to safeguard applicant’s rights to effective judicial review.” “Arkady Rotenberg was never given notice of his name being added to the list of sanctioned individuals, and no supporting evidence was provided to him in relation to the Council’s decision,” the lawyers said.
