EU was wrong to include PKK on terror list: court

LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) - A European Union court ruled against the way the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) was put on the bloc's list of groups whose funds must be frozen to help fight terrorism in 2002, but the EU said the ruling was irrelevant.

The Court of First Instance (CFI), the EU's second-highest court, said the EU had not properly justified its decision at the time.

But an EU official said a new version list had been drawn up in December 2007, including the PKK again, which took into account the views of the court in similar cases in the past.

"For the Council (of EU governments), the PKK continues to be on the list," the official said.

The Turkish government blames the PKK for nearly 40,000 deaths since the group launched an armed struggle for a Kurdish homeland in southeast Turkey in 1984.

Thursday's ruling followed similar judgments by the CFI that the EU had failed to give sufficient reasons for including groups on the list, including exiled Iranian opposition group, the People's Mujahideen.

(Writing by William Schomberg in Brussels; Editing by Robert Woodward)