THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE ANNULS THE COUNCIL ACTS FREEZING JOSE MARIA SISON’S FUNDS

The national decisions relied upon by the Council in order to freeze the applicant’s funds did not relate either to the instigation of investigations or prosecution or to a conviction for terrorist activity, contrary to the requirements of Community law

Jose Maria Sison, a national of the Philippines, has lived in the Netherlands since 1987. He applied there for refugee status and a residence permit. That application was three times rejected by the Secretary of State for Justice on the grounds that Mr Sison was the head of the Communist Party of the Philippines (‘the CPP’), that the military wing of the CPP, the NPA (‘the New People’s Army’), answered to the Central Committee of the CPP and that Mr Sison in fact directed the NPA, which was responsible for a large number of acts of terrorism in the Philippines. The first two decisions refusing the application were annulled by two judgments of the Raad van State of 1992 and 1995, but the third was upheld in 1997 by decision of the Arrondissementsrechtbank te ‘s-Gravenhage (The Hague District Court, ‘the Rechtbank’). <read more>

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