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Harare Bureau
Zimbabwe’s case in which it is taking the European Union to court for slapping it with illegal sanctions has been placed on court roll and is likely to be heard soon in Brussels, Belgium, Attorney General Mr Johannes Tomana has said.The case will be heard before the General Court of the European Court of Justice in Brussels.
“The case is now before the Eighth Chamber (of the General Court of European Court of Justice). The case has been allocated court and what is left is for us to be told of the set down date. That court will advise us of the date,” said Mr Tomana.
The sanctions, which were imposed on Zimbabwe at the behest of the MDC formations 13 years ago, are estimated to have cost Zimbabwe over $42 billion in potential revenue.
The country continues to suffer from the sanctions with reports saying some of the Industrial Development Corporation’s 15 subsidiaries, among them the Zimbabwe Fertilizer Company and Chemplex Corporation had $20 million intercepted by the US Treasury Department’s Office for Foreign Assets Control.
Mr Tomana, however, did not have the exact date when the case was likely to be heard.
“We are saying we will be advised of the dates soon and that can be anytime from now,” he said.
Zimbabwe has been reeling under the devastating illegal economic sanctions imposed by the EU, Britain and the United States after London convinced its western allies to internationalise its bilateral dispute with Zimbabwe over land reform programme.
This prompted Zimbabwe to institute legal proceedings against the EU in its own land for violating its own laws by imposing the illegal sanctions.
The court challenge is being led by a team of lawyers comprising Mr David Vaughan, Mr Maya Lester Robin Loof and Zimbabwean lawyers Mr Farai Mutamangira and Mr Gerald Mlotshwa.
The bloc’s illegal sanctions regime was imposed in violation of the Cotonou Agreement that governs relations between the EU and African Caribbean and Pacific countries.
Besides disregarding its own regulations, the bloc also contravened international law when it imposed the illegal sanctions in 2002 and continued to extend them outside the United Nations statutes.
The EU recently resolved to remove the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC) from its sanctions list after facing pressure from Belgium.
This followed the crumbling of the lucrative Belgian diamond industry as Marange diamonds were now finding their way to India and China.
But Zimbabwe is insisting that the embargoes should be lifted in their entirety not on a piecemeal basis. Zimbabweans are tired of the sanctions and over two million people signed the National Anti-Sanctions Petition which was launched by President Mugabe in April 2011 and Government used the petition in regional and international forums to lobby for the lifting of the Western embargo.
The inclusive Government was a major setback as it declined to fund the petition to lobby internationally, but with a Zanu-PF Government in office that problem should be overcome.
However, Mr Tomana was not committed to disclose finer details of funding of the lawsuit. But previous reports say $5 million was being sought to finance the case.
“What I have given in the meantime I think is enough,” said Mr Tomana.
Trinity Engineering founder and chief executive officer Cde Aguy Georgias, was the first to challenge the EU sanctions in court and his case is still pending at the bloc’s General Court where he seeks damages against the European Commission and the Council of the European Union.
Cde Georgias, who is represented by United Kingdom lawyers, said he would give details of the case today. Some of the companies and individuals affected by OFAC sanctions:
Africa University denied computer software by US based Microsoft UK based Brian Hopper and wife had money to buy a residential stand intercepted
Chinhoyi University student denied computer software for studies Zimbabwean based in Botswana had money intercepted
Jema Gold Mine’s money for equipment intercepted
IDC subsidiaries lost money for raw materials Minerals Marketing Company of Zimbabwe lost $30 million Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation subsidiaries have also had their money frozen.
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