Businessman Yevgeny Prigojine (right) and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Saint Petersburg (Russia), September 20, 2010 (SPUTNIK/AFP/Alexey DRUZHININ)
European justice has confirmed the sanctions decided in 2020 against the Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigojine, reputed to be close to President Vladimir Putin, for his involvement in the destabilization of Libya with the group of mercenaries Wagner, according to a decision published on Wednesday.
The 61-year-old businessman, accused by the EU of financially supporting the activities of the private military group Wagner in this country, had asked the Court of the European Union to annul this decision. He invoked in particular “a violation of the obligation to state reasons for these decisions, the inadmissibility of the evidence produced, the erroneous assessment of the facts, the misuse of power and the violation of his fundamental rights”, in his appeal.
The court rejected all these arguments and specified that “the evidence file contains concrete, precise and concordant elements establishing the close and multiple relations that Mr. Prigojine maintains with the Wagner group”.
Mr. Prigojine, accused of having by his actions endangered peace, stability or security in Libya, was banned from entering the EU and his funds were frozen. The decision adopted in October 2020 was extended by the Member States in July 2021.
Yevgeny Prigozhin has also been sanctioned by the EU for his role in the conflict in Ukraine. He is considered the founder of the Concord Group “responsible for the deployment of Wagner Group mercenaries in Ukraine and for having benefited from important public contracts with the Russian Ministry of Defense after the illegal annexation of Crimea and the occupation of eastern Ukraine by Moscow-backed separatists, according to the EU blacklist.
His mother and his wife were also included on this list in February 2022. The businessman is also sanctioned by the United States and the United Kingdom.
The Kremlin denies any link with the Wagner group.
© 2022 AFP
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