Case T-229/02: 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
Date: 2002-09-28
Institutions: Court of First Instance
Subjects: action for annulment (EU), administrative sanction, international sanctions, terrorism

C 233/32

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

28.9.2002

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

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,

(Case T-229/02)

(2002/C 233/56)

— Breach of internationally recognised right of self-determi-

nation, of cultural, civil and political rights.

(Language of the case: English)

— Breach of fundamental rights of expression and associ-

ation.

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
instructed by
Muller, barrister, Edward Grieves, barrister,
Gareth Pierce, partner at Birnberg, Peirce and partners, 14
Inverness Street, London NW1 7HJ, UK.

The applicants claim that the Court should:

— declare 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,

— alternatively declare Regulation 2508/2001 illegal

in

respect of its application to the applicants,

— order the Council to pay the costs incurred by the

applicants in the present proceedings,

— order 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:

— Failure 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

— Breach of other principles of Community Law such as
proportionality, certainty, equality and right to a fair
hearing.

— Misuse 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.

Action brought on 2 August 2002 by Piero Gonnelli and
the Associazione Italiana Frantoiani Oleari (AIFO) against
the Commission of the European Communities

(Case T-231/02)

(2002/C 233/57)

(Language of the case: Italian)

An action against the Commission of the European Communi-
ties was brought before the Court of First Instance of the
European Communities on 2 August 2002 by Piero Gonnelli
and the Associazione Italiana Frantoiani Oleari (AIFO), rep-
resented by Ugo Scuro, lawyer.

The applicants claim that the Court should:

— annul

in its entirety Commission Regulation (EC)
No 1019/2002 of 13 June 2002 on marketing standards
for olive oil, alternatively Articles 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 thereof.