Björg Thorarensen, a law professor at the University of Iceland, believes Iceland’s Landsbanki, which has been nationalized and re-branded as NBI, could take British authorities to court for invoking anti-terrorism legislation to freeze its assets in the UK.
The headquarters of Landsbanki in Reykjavík. Copyright: Icelandic Photo Agency.
“I believe the most obvious way to go is for Landsbanki to file a lawsuit to British courts and base their case on provisions from the European Convention on Human Rights, which are valid in Britain, and first and foremost the provision on the curtailment of right of ownership,” Thorarensen told Morgunbladid.
“If they [the British courts] do not agree that laws were violated, either Landsbanki or the Icelandic state could take the case to the European Court of Human Rights,” Thorarensen said.
The Icelandic government has decided not to sue British authorities because of the implementation of the anti-terrorism legislation, but is looking into taking the case to the European Court of Human Rights.
However, Iceland’s Kaupthing Bank is going to take British authorities to court in Britain for freezing their assets in the UK with support from the Icelandic state.
Click here to read more about that story and here to read about Iceland’s plans to sue British authorities, which have now been abolished.
