2ND LEAD (Adds details)
EU Court of Justice takes up LTTE case
[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 June 2011, 16:49 GMT]
Luxembourg-based European Court of Justice, on Tuesday, informed Victor Koppe, attorney for the LTTE, that the Court has taken up the case “Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) vs Council of the European Union” (Case T-208/11-9) for hearing. The Registrar of the General Court informed the attorney that the case has been assigned to the Court's Second Chamber. Victor Koppe, filed the case against the European Union for the annulment of the European Union's ban on Liberation Tigers.
Formal acceptance of the case against LTTE proscription in EU
"The LTTE wishes to emphasize the political character of this decision, the European Union and her member states should not lend themselves for Victor's justice. When armed forces, engaged in an armed conflict, violate international humanitarian law, they should be held accountable for those violations according to international humanitarian law. By subjecting one of the parties to anti-terrorism legislation, the course of justice is perverted," Mr. Koppe said in a media release on the legal challenge on Sunday.
Similarly, for a genuine investigation of war crimes that is of universal importance to contemporary human civilisation, the Eezham Tamils have to be militarily and politically freed first from genocidal Sri Lanka, said diaspora political activists in Europe.
The European Court of Justice, by deciding to hear the case, has accepted that the European branches of the LTTE are sufficiently autonomous in their functioning to grant power-of-attorney to Mr Koppe to represent the LTTE, legal sources said.
"Court will now invite the Member States of the EU and the Council of the EU to present their argument for extending the ban on LTTE," Mr. Koppe told TamilNet Saturday.
The Court of Justice of the European Union is made up of three courts: the Court of Justice, the General Court and the Civil Service Tribunal.
A judge and an advocate general are assigned to each case that comes before the Court.
Cases submitted to the court are processed in two stages: a written stage and an oral stage.
Many judgments have been given in the fields of equal treatment and social rights, fundamental rights and freedom of movement of persons.
The EU Court of Justice also settles legal disputes between EU governments and EU institutions. Individuals, companies or organisations can bring cases before the Court if they feel their rights have been infringed by an EU institution.
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