EU court orders removal of Belarus football club & Yury Chyzh from sanctions list

09/10/15

The European Court has annulled the inclusion of the Belarus football club FA Dinamo Minsk, and of Yury Chyzh & companies linked with him, on the EU’s sanctions relating to Belarus. FA Dinamo Minsk was founded in 1927 and continued to operate in exile after the occupation of Minsk in 1941. It was subject to an EU wide travel ban & asset freeze for being owned by Triple, a company itself listed for being owned by Mr Chyzh, a businessman said to support the Lukashenko regime.

The EU first imposed restrictive measures in 2006 on President Lukashenko and Belarusian officials said to be "responsible for serious human rights violations, whose activities seriously undermine democracy or the rule of law in Belarus, or who benefit from or support the Lukashenko regime". The General Court held that being a successful businessman in Belarus is not enough to demonstrate that Mr Chyzh provided financial support to the Lukashenko regime, the EU Council put forward no evidence that he does, nor that the concessions he had won were not won through merit. Since Mr Chyzh’s designation was not justified, nor was that of Triple of the other companies said to be owned by him, nor that of FA Dinamo Minsk.