The European Union may have to remove the Liberation Tamil Tigers of Tamil Eelam, from its list of terrorist organisations according to a top European Court advisor, reports the BBC.
Speaking to the BBC, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) Advocate General Sharpston said she found the Council incorrectly relied on judgements made by government’s without checking that they had the same human rights as the EU.
In response to an EU Court appeal to a ruling in 2014 that the LTTE should be taken of the list on technical grounds and not as a reassessment of their classification as a terrorist group, European Court of Justice (ECJ) Advocate General Sharpston, said “ the council cannot rely on a decision of a competent authority without knowing the actual reasons on which the decision was based on.”
Noting that the EU court prescribed the LTTE purely based on Sri Lanka’s national legislation without in-depth research, she added,
“The General court failed to make such findings and, for that reason, the Advocate General suggests that the appeal is upheld.”
In 2014 the LTTE was de-listed due to technical issues raised in court, resulting in an appeal launched by the council.
The ECJ’s Advocate General has said that the Council of the EU made procedural errors in defining both Hamas and the LTTE as terrorist organisations. The opinion of the advocate General, though not final, is generally followed by the ECJ.
See also:
Sri Lanka to challenge EU court annulment of anti-terror measures on LTTE (20 October 2014)
EU defends annulment of measures against LTTE, as Sri Lanka decides to appeal decision (20 Oct 2014)
EU will have to rethink 'flawed' proscription of LTTE says ECJ lawyer (18 Oct 2014)
