Notice for the OJ

 

Action brought on 31 July 2002 by Osman Ocalan on behalf of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and Serif Vanly on behalf of Kurdistan National Congress (KNK) against the Council of the European Union

    (Case T-229/02)

    Language of the case: English

An action against the Council of the European Union was brought before the Court of First Instance of the European Communities on 31 July 2002 by Osman Ocalan on behalf of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and Serif Vanly on behalf of Kurdistan National Congress (KNK), represented by Mark Muller, barrister, Edward Grieves, barrister, instructed by Gareth Pierce, partner at Birnberg, Peirce and partners, 14 Inverness Street, London NW1 7HJ, UK.

The applicants claim that the Court should:

listnum "WP List 1" \l 1declare void the Council Decision 2002/334/EC of 2 May 2002 and the attendant decision dated 17 June 2002 in respect of its proscription of the PKK,

listnum "WP List 1" \l 1alternatively declare Regulation 2508/2001 illegal in respect of its application to the applicants,

listnum "WP List 1" \l 1order the Council to pay the costs incurred by the applicants in the present proceedings,

listnum "WP List 1" \l 1order the Council to pay damages.

Pleas in law and main arguments:

The present Application is brought for partial annulement of decisions 2002/334/EC and its successor 2002/460/EC, which places PKK upon the EU terrorist list. These decisions were made pursuant to the challenged Regulation no 2580/2001

On support of its conclusions, the Applicants submit the following grounds:

listnum "WP List 2" \l 1Failure to apply the criteria to the correct facts and/or have regard to the law of armed conflict where relevant. It is stated on this topic that the Council has imposed a ban upon a non-existent (recently disolved), organisation, which, by definition, was incapable of being presently or in the future engaged in terrorism. Alternatively, if which is denied, the PKK is held to continue to exist as an organisation, the Council wholly failed to adhere to the requirement that any putative organisation required to be considered under the Regulation must be presently engaged in terrorism. In fact, since July 1999, the PKK has dropped its demand for Kurdish independence and has merely sought the recognition, through peaceful and political means,

listnum "WP List 3" \l 1Breach of internationally recognised right of self-determination, of cultural, civil and political rights.

listnum "WP List 4" \l 1Breach of fundamental rights of expression and association.

listnum "WP List 5" \l 1Breach of other principles of Community Law such as proportionality, certainty, equality and right to a fair hearing.

listnum "WP List 6" \l 1Misuse of power, in that the Council's inclusion of the PKK in the list in question should be as a result of political pressure from Turkey and not as a result of any meaningful application of the aforesaid criteria to the facts.

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