Judgment of the Court of First Instance of 23 October 2008 - People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran v Council
(Common foreign and security policy - Restrictive measures directed against certain persons and entities with a view to combating terrorism - Freezing of funds - Actions for annulment - Rights of the defence - Statement of reasons - Judicial review)
Language of the case: English
Parties
Applicant: People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (Auvers sur Oise, France) (represented by: J.-P. Spitzer, lawyer, and D. Vaughan QC)
Defendant: Council of the European Union (represented by: M. Bishop and E. Finnegan, Agents)
Interveners in support of the defendant: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (represented: initially by V. Jackson and T. Harris, and subsequently by V. Jackson, Agents, and assisted by S. Lee and M. Gray, Barristers); Commission of the European Communities (represented: initially by S. Boelaert and J. Aquilina, and subsequently by S. Boelaert, P. Aalto and P. van Nuffel, Agents); Kingdom of the Netherlands (represented by: M. de Grave and Y. de Vries, Agents)
Re:
APPLICATION, initially, for annulment of Council Decision 2007/445/EC of 28 June 2007 implementing Article 2(3) of Regulation (EC) No 2580/2001 on specific restrictive measures directed against certain persons and entities with a view to combating terrorism and repealing Decisions 2006/379/EC and 2006/1008/EC (OJ 2007 L 169, p. 58), so far as it concerns the applicant.
Operative part of the judgment
The Court:
Dismisses the action as unfounded in so far as it seeks annulment of Council Decision 2007/445/EC of 28 June 2007 implementing Article 2(3) of Regulation (EC) No 2580/2001 on specific restrictive measures directed against certain persons and entities with a view to combating terrorism and repealing Decisions 2006/379/EC and 2006/1008/EC
Annuls Article 1 of Council Decision 2007/868/EC of 20 December 2007 implementing Article 2(3) of Regulation No 2580/2001 on specific restrictive measures directed against certain persons and entities with a view to combating terrorism and repealing Decision 2007/445, and point 2.19 of the list annexed to that decision, in so far as they concern the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran;
Dismisses the action as unfounded in so far as it seeks annulment of the other provisions of Decision 2007/868, so far as the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran is concerned;
Orders the Council to bear, in addition to its own costs, one third of the costs of the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran;
Orders the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Commission and the Kingdom of the Netherlands to pay their own costs.
____________1 - OJ C 211, 8. 9. 2007.