Action brought on 10 February 2010 - Jurašinović v Council

(Case T-63/10)

Language of the case: French

Parties

Applicant: Ivan Jurašinović (Angers, France) (represented by: N. Amara-Lebret, lawyer)

Defendant: Council of the European Union

Form of order sought

-    annulment of the decision of 7 December 2009 by which the Council refused the applicant access to the following documents:

- Council decisions relating to the transmission to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia of documents which that Tribunal requested in connection with the Gotovina case;

- all the correspondence exchanged in that connection by the EU Institutions with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (+ any annexes) and particularly the initial requests from both the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and Mr GOTOVINA's lawyers;

-    an order that the General Secretariat of the Council of the EU allow access, electronically, to all the documents sought;

-    an order that the Council of the EU pay the applicant a sum of EUR 2,000 exclusive of tax, being EUR 2,392 inclusive of all taxes for its legal costs, with interest at the ECB's rate to the date of registration of the application.

Pleas in law and main arguments

By the present action, the applicant seeks the annulment of the Council's decision of 7 December 2009 refusing it access to the Council's decisions relating to the transmission to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) of the documents which that Tribunal requested in connection with the Gotovina case and all the correspondence exchanged in that connection by the EU Institutions with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (+ any annexes) and particularly the initial requests from both the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and Mr GOTOVINA's lawyers.

In support of its action, the applicant relies on four pleas in law alleging:

-    error of law in that the Council refused access to the documents on the basis of Article 70B of the ICTY's Rules of Procedure and Evidence, although those rules are not applicable;

-    that the protection of court proceedings and legal advice under the third indent of Article 4(2) of Regulation No 1049/2001¹ would not be undermined because that exception concerns the protection of court proceedings of the European Union and its Member States and not proceedings before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia which are outside the EU's jurisdiction;

-    that the protection of the public interest as regards international relations under the third indent of Article 4(1)(a) of Regulation No 1049/2001 would not be undermined;

-    that there is an overriding public interest under the third indent of Article 4(2) of Regulation No 1049/2001 because the applicant seeks the disclosure of the documents sought so as to establish its rights in Case T-465/09. That request appertains to access to justice and the right to due process before the European Courts. In addition, the conflict to which those documents relate was concluded in 1995.

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¹ - Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents (OJ 2001 L 145, p. 43).