The Court of Justice of the European Union (Luxembourg) has upheld the European sanctions levied against disgraced former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and his son Oleksandr, whose accounts were arrested during 2015 and 2016, the Kyiv-based e-zine Yevropeiska Pravda (European Truth) has said.

The e-zine says Yanukovych and his son filed an appeal against the year-old decision.

"On September 15, the EU court (General Court) ruled on two waves of sanctions introduced by the Council of the European Union against Yanukovych and his son. At the time, the sanctions dated in 2014 had been revoked "via backdating." However, the court recognized newer sanctions which took force in 2015. Viktor and Oleksandr Yanukovych appealed last year's ruling of the European Court of Justice which ruled on the appeal of decisions taken by the EU court initially. The high chamber of the EU court upheld completely the initial ruling, recognizing as legal European sanctions against Yanukovych and his son mandating freezing their assets," the e-zine says.

As noted in the ruling of the court on October 19, 2017, "concerns of Viktor and Oleksandr Yanukovych about the biased Ukrainian judicial system cannot cast doubt on the grounds of the charges against them for very concrete incidents of embezzlement of state funds."

The court also said no evidence was provided that would cast doubt on the charges made against Yanukovych and his son in Ukraine.

"The ruling of the European court pertains to only one sanctions wave, which was in force from March 2015 through March 2016 and, correspondingly, is no longer valid. However, it shows attempts by the Yanukovych family to overthrow sanctions against them (introduced in 2016 and 2017) will probably be unsuccessful," the e-zine says.