Latest news with #ParisCourtofAppeal
Libya Observer
11 hours ago
- Business
- Libya Observer
National Oil Corporation wins 3 international lawsuits, appeals fourth
Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC) announced on Wednesday that it has won three international lawsuits filed by Swiss companies that sought to freeze the corporation's assets and shares, with claims totaling 35 million euros. In a statement, the NOC said the rulings led to the cancellation of all precautionary seizures of its assets. However, it acknowledged the loss of an arbitration case to a Cypriot company, valued at €24.37 million, and confirmed it is continuing to appeal the ruling before the French Court of Cassation. The NOC explained that on March 13, 2025, the Paris Court of Appeal issued rulings in its favor in three separate cases. These decisions lifted precautionary asset freezes imposed by three Swiss companies on the NOC's shares in the Mabrouk Company in France and on certain bank accounts. The freezes were based on arbitration awards previously issued in favor of those companies by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris against the Libyan state. The NOC further stated that Cypriot firm Olin had, on November 10, 2022, obtained a precautionary seizure order against NOC funds in France. This action was based on a final arbitration award issued by the ICC on August 25, 2018, requiring Libya to pay €24.37 million to the company. In response, the NOC filed a lawsuit before French courts to annul the seizure order. However, the Paris Court of Appeal rejected the request on June 19, 2025, ruling that the NOC is an extension of the Libyan state and that its assets are not protected from enforcement—even though it was not a party to the dispute between Libya and Olin. "We have initiated an appeal before the French Court of Cassation in a bid to overturn the ruling and lift the asset freeze." NOC said and emphasized its commitment to exhausting all legal avenues to defend its assets, stressing that the contested ruling was based on a case in which the corporation was not involved.
Politico
12 hours ago
- Politics
- Politico
Macrons sue hard-right commentator Candace Owens for defamation
Still, Owens has doubled down on her allegations, even making T-shirts with Brigitte Macron's face fashioned as the cover of TIME Magazine with the tagline 'man of the year' below her photograph. 'I would stake my entire professional reputation on the fact that Brigitte Macron is in fact a man,' Owens posted to X in March 2024, after her initial podcast episode about the French first lady gained traction online. The Elysée declined to comment further on the suit, while Owens did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In the filing, the Macrons allege that Owens' commentary has resulted in 'relentless bullying on a worldwide scale' and demand a jury trial in the state of Delaware, where Owens' businesses are based. The suit comes as the Macrons pursue a separate legal battle back home against two women for pushing the same transphobic theory about the president's wife. While a French court initially found the two women guilty of libel in 2024, ordering them to pay 8,000 euros to the first lady and 5,000 euros to her brother, who was also a party in the trial, the women were acquitted by the Paris Court of Appeal earlier this month. The French first lady filed an appeal in that case July 14.
Libya Review
12 hours ago
- Business
- Libya Review
Paris Court Clears Libya's NOC of Swiss Legal Claims
Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC) has announced a major legal victory after the Paris Court of Appeal ruled in its favour, dismissing three lawsuits filed by Swiss companies seeking to seize its assets worth €35 million. The ruling, issued on 13 March 2025, nullified all precautionary seizures placed on NOC accounts and properties in France. In a statement released on Wednesday, NOC confirmed that the dispute involved Sysmed Travel, Jallouli Communications Group Easy Media, and Hopital de la Tour. These companies had attempted to enforce international arbitration awards against the Libyan state by freezing NOC's assets, including shares in Al-Mabrouk Oil Operations and certain bank accounts. 'This ruling underscores our determination to defend Libya's national resources and protect the corporation's assets from unlawful claims,' NOC said in its statement. However, NOC acknowledged a setback in a separate arbitration case against the Cypriot company Olin. The company secured a €24.37 million award against the Libyan state in August 2018 and later obtained a court order to seize NOC funds in France on 10 November 2022. NOC sought to lift this seizure through French courts, but the Paris Court of Appeal rejected its request on 19 June 2025. The court ruled that NOC, as an extension of the Libyan state, does not enjoy immunity from enforcement even if it was not a direct party to the dispute. The corporation confirmed it is now pursuing an appeal before the French Court of Cassation to overturn the ruling and safeguard its assets. 'We will exhaust all legal avenues to protect Libya's oil wealth,' the statement added. Tags: libyanocOil CorporationParis CourtSwiss Companies
Libya Herald
13 hours ago
- Business
- Libya Herald
NOC loses judgment in a case in which it is not a party, but to appeal in final court of appeal
Libya's state National Oil Corporation (NOC) issued a Press Briefing today on the back of news that some of its assets abroad have been seized through a court ruling in a case in which it is not a party, but simply because this court deemed it not an independent entity but an extension of the Libyan state. The NOC said it is appealing the judgment in the final court of appeal. Here is the full statement: ''The National Oil Corporation (NOC) has followed up on the news circulated by some media pages on social media, a large part of which is correct, related to the cases of the precautionary seizure signed by some foreign companies on the funds and shares of the corporation in France, which obliged us to clarify the following: The NOC won three lawsuits, before the Paris Court of Appeal on March 13, 2025, all of which resulted in the cancellation of the precautionary reservations signed by three Swiss companies (Sysmed Travel, Jallouli Communications Group Easymedia, and Hopital de la Tour) with a total value of 35 million euros on the corporation's shares in the Mabrouk Company in France and some of its bank accounts, which were based on arbitration rulings issued in its favour by the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris against the Libyan state. On 10 November 2022, the Cypriot company Olin issued precautionary seizure orders on the funds of the National Oil Corporation with third parties in France, based on a final arbitration ruling issued in its favour against the Libyan state by the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris on 25/08/2018, which obliges the Libyan state to pay an amount of (24,373,175.70 euros), and the corporation demanded the cancellation of the seizure orders through a lawsuit it filed against Olin Company before the French judiciary, in which the Paris Court of Appeal ended on June 19, 2025 Issuing its judgment rejecting the NOC's request to cancel the seizure on the basis that the latter is considered an extension of the Libyan state, and that its funds do not enjoy any immunity from execution, even if it is not a party to the dispute between the Libyan state and Olin Company. Finally, the NOC has initiated the procedures of appealing the aforementioned judgment before the French Court of Cassation, in order to exhaust all levels of litigation to cancel the seizure of its assets, which is based on a judgment issued in a lawsuit in which the corporation was not a party.
L'Orient-Le Jour
15 hours ago
- Politics
- L'Orient-Le Jour
French court upholds warrant for Bashar al-Assad over chemical weapons
A French appeals court on Wednesday upheld an arrest warrant issued for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad over the use of banned chemical weapons against civilians. The warrant approved by French judges in November 2023 refers to charges of complicity in crimes against humanity and complicity in war crimes. It followed a French investigation into chemical attacks in Douma and the district of Eastern Ghouta in August 2013 that killed more than 1,000 people. Assad's government has denied using chemical weapons against its opponents in the civil war, which broke out in March 2011. Syrian authorities did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the Court of Appeal ruling. Prosecutors, who would be responsible for asking the police to carry out the warrant, had challenged its validity, arguing that, as a sitting head of state, Assad was immune from trial and prosecution in France. The Paris Court of Appeal said in a statement confirming the validity of the arrest warrant: "Prohibiting the use of chemical weapons is part of customary international law as a mandatory rule, and the international crimes that the judges are looking at cannot be considered as being part of the official duties of a head of state. They can thus be separated from the sovereignty naturally attached to these duties." Mazen Darwish, head of the Syrian Center for Media & Freedom of the Press and one of the lawyers who lodged the initial case, welcomed the court's decision. "Today is a very special day and this is a historic victory, not only for the Syrian victims, but for all the victims around the world," he said. "The court's decision confirms what we have always said – that when the issue concerns crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the use of chemical weapons, immunity should never be relied upon." Arrest warrants for sitting heads of state are rare because they generally have immunity from prosecution. However, international law has exceptions to that immunity when a head of state is accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity or genocide. France is among the countries that allows the filing of crimes-against-humanity cases in its courts. "This decision makes clear that international rules on immunity cannot be synonymous with impunity, particularly for the most serious international crimes," Steve Kostas, senior legal officer at Open Society Justice initiative, said in reaction to the verdict.
