The General Court of the European Union on Thursday upheld the decision of the Council of the European Union to freeze the assets of family members of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
BRUSSELS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd November, 2018) The General Court of the European Union on Thursday upheld the decision of the Council of the European Union to freeze the assets of family members of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.After the events of 2011 in Egypt, the council imposed restrictive measures against certain individuals found guilty of embezzling Egyptian public funds. The decision to freeze was taken as part of a policy of supporting a peaceful transition to the formation of a civil and democratic government in Egypt. The plaintiffs demanded to overturn decisions that extended the freezing of their assets in 2016 and 2017, believing that they had no legal basis and claiming that Egypt's judiciary did not provide the right to effective legal protection or presumption of innocence.
"The General Court upholds the Council's decision to freeze the assets of members of the Mubarak family, on the basis of judicial proceedings relating to misappropriation of Egyptian State funds," the court said in a published statement.
The court added that the council had sufficient information about the political and judicial context in Egypt to adopt the decision.
In February 2011, Mubarak resigned amid protests in the country and the following year he received a life sentence for "failure to stop the killings" during the 18-day uprising that left over 800 people dead. The court's decision was appealed and a new trial was ordered. Mubarak was discharged on every count of being involved in the killing of protesters in 2014. The Prosecutor General's Office appealed the court's decision, claiming a number of procedural irregularities had taken place. In early March 2017, the Egyptian Court of Cassation acquitted Mubarak of charges of complicity in the deaths of protesters. The Egyptian General Prosecutor's Office agreed to release Mubarak on March 13.
After Mubarak was overthrown, a number of former ministers, businessmen and lawmakers were arrested. However, most of them were later acquitted and released. A number of businessmen entered into "friendly agreements" with the state to avoid prosecution.
In September, Mubarak's sons Gamal and Alaa and their former business partners were arrested within the case on stock market fraud during their father's rule, but were released on bail later the same month. The sons of the ex-president rejected the accusations.
