EU Court Partially Upholds Sanctions On Ukraine's Yanukovych

A European court has partially upheld sanctions imposed on Ukraine's ousted former president, Viktor Yanukovych, his son Oleksandr, and the former head of the presidential administration, Andriy Klyuyev.

The three challenged the European Union's sanctions on charges of embezzlement and financial wrongdoing that meant losing access to their funds held in European banks.

The EU's General Court "confirms the freezing of funds imposed for the period from March 6, 2015 until March 6, 2016," the court said in a September 15 statement.

The three Ukrainians can appeal against the ruling to the EU's top court.

However, the three Ukrainians won their challenge to the sanctions for the March 2014 to March 2015 period because EU governments did not provide enough proof, the court also said.

The statement said the European Council provided more proof for the extension of sanctions for the following period, allowing them to stand.

The EU has extended the sanctions until March 2017, which the two Yanukovyches and Klyuyev have also challenged and the case is ongoing.

Yanukovych fled to Russia in February 2014 after a popular uprising. He has denied involvement in corruption.

With reporting by Reuters