German government blocks billions in Libyan sanctions

[News_Editor]

German government blocks billions in Libyan sanctions

2011-03-10 20:26:01 GMT+7 (ICT)

BERLIN (BNO NEWS) -- The German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology on Thursday announced it has ordered an immediate freeze of all Libyan government assets.

The freeze announced on Thursday blocks billions of Euros in Libyan assets, the Ministry said, without giving specific details. The Ministry previously said that a son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi held a German bank account with an amount of around two million euros (2.76 million US dollars). This account was frozen earlier this month when the Ministry issued a temporary freeze.

"[These] measures are a clear reaction to the developments in Libya. The brutal suppression of the Libyan freedom movement can no longer be financed from funds that are in German banks," said Economics Minister Rainer Brüderle.

Late last month, the United Nations Security Council voted unanimously to impose sanctions against Libyan authorities under Resolution 1970, slapping the country with an arms embargo and freezing the assets of its leaders, while referring the ongoing violent repression of civilian demonstrators to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Between 1,000 and 10,000 people are believed to have been killed in the Libyan uprising, according to various estimates. Information has proved difficult to gather due to reporting restrictions by the Libyan government.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-03-10

[asiawatcher]

and so they should - lead by example and hope others do the same.