The lawyer admits that putting Avena on the sanctions list could cost European taxpayers billions

Lawyer Jānis Kārkliņš admits that the unjustified inclusion of Pēter Aven in the sanctions list can cost European taxpayers billions.

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“If the judgment of the General Court of the European Union comes into force and the conclusion remains that the Council of the European Union unreasonably subjected a person to sanctions, then it will be clearly and unequivocally established that in the period from March 2022 to the middle of 2023, Pēteris Avens was unjustly sanctioned. This means that this action was illegal and the European Union must compensate for the damages caused. And they are huge,” says P. Aven’s representative, managing partner of “Jānis Kārkliņš law firm”, professor of the Faculty of Law of the University of Latvia, sworn lawyer Jānis Kārkliņš, in an interview with the BNN portal.

Although Latvia has submitted a request to the Legal Service of the European Union to file an appeal regarding the lifting of sanctions against Pēteris Aven, Jānis Kārklinņš states in the interview that, in his opinion, there will be no appeal. “The judgment is absolutely legally correct and completely destructive. The Council of the EU can just as well decide that it does not want to suffer humiliation again in the second instance.” The lawyer also asks rhetorically: “What will happen if, after the invitation of the Latvian state to submit this appeal, the Council of the European Union will not do so, because it will consider that the judgment is very strong and there is no basis for submitting an appeal?” Doesn’t the fact that something is done under the influence of emotions without evaluating the judgment reduce Latvia’s prestige among the other countries of the European Union?”

In the interview, Jānis Kārkliņš tells in more detail about the reasoning of the judges of the EU General Court, as a result of which the court decided to cancel the EU sanctions imposed on P. Aven on February 28, 2022, as well as why the court considered the evidence presented by the Council of the European Union to be insufficient. On the other hand, regarding the justification of the EU Council for the extension of sanctions made in 2023, which states: “He [P.Avens] is one of the leading businessmen involved in the economic sector that provides a significant source of revenue for the government of the Russian Federation, which is responsible for the annexation of Crimea and the destabilization of Ukraine,” Jānis Kārklinņš states that the court will have to assess whether the company in which Aven is a minority shareholder , pays taxes in Russia, means he supports the war.

“If so, then all those Western companies that work in Russia also support the annexation of Crimea and the destabilization of Ukraine,” says the lawyer in the interview. “For example, I can freely buy shares of Apple or Microsoft on the stock exchange. Because I own these shares, can I be considered paying taxes in America? No, the taxes are paid by the company,” explains Jānis Kārklinņš.

Speaking about the EU sanctions policy as a whole, the lawyer points out that sanctions work without a doubt for each individual natural person, because natural persons are absolutely limited in their property transactions. “But the goal of the sanctions is not to harm a specific natural person, this goal is politically much bigger – to change the behavior of specific countries, such as Iran, North Korea, Russia, or to influence it.” However, in more than two years since the war started by Russia in Ukraine, it is clear that this goal has not been fully achieved, as Russia mitigates the negative impact of the sanctions by cooperating with countries that have not joined the sanctions.

Jānis Kārklinņš says that imposing sanctions at the very beginning of the war was a political gesture from the West and they should have been. It showed that we condemn this war. If a country threatens the values ​​of western civilization, it reacts and says – we will sanction this country or specific individuals. However, in my opinion, the sanctions policy needs to be improved to make it more effective,” says the lawyer.

Jānis Kārklinņš also points out that it is not correct to push those people who have reached the West in their business activities back to Russia so that they contribute to the development of the Russian economy and increase the country’s income so that it can produce weapons even more. “It is clear that the Western world and any reasonable person condemns this war. But then you also have to decide wisely how to get Russia to end or at least limit its aggression, and also how to get the smartest and most talented minds of this country on your side. It is necessary to achieve a division of the Russian elite,” the lawyer believes.

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