The Court of Justice of the European Union on Monday threw out a challenge to Brexit brought by 13 British citizens now residing in EU member countries.

They were asking the court to nullify the decision of the EU to begin negotiations on Brexit because they and other expatriates, numbering over a million, were denied the right to vote in the referendum because of their expatriation.

Led by 97-year-old World War II veteran Harry Shindler, an expat living in Italy, the claimants believe that the Brexit process will deny them of the rights they now hold as EU citizens. The court rejected their arguments:

The Court takes the view that the decision does not alter the legal situation of British citizens residing in an EU Member State other than the UK, whether that be their situation at the date of the contested decision or their situation as from the date of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. Therefore, according to the Court, the applicants are wrong to claim that they are directly affected, inter alia as regards their status as EU citizens and their right to vote in European and municipal elections, their right to respect for their private and family life, their freedom to move, reside and work, their right to own property and their right to social security benefits. The Court adds that, although it is true that the applicants’ legal situation, particularly as regards their status as EU citizens, is likely to be affected when the UK withdraws from the EU, whether or not a withdrawal agreement can be concluded, such a potential effect on their rights—the nature and extent of which cannot, moreover, be known at the present time—does not result from the contested decision.

The court ordered Shindler and the other applicants to bear the cost of their challenge as well as the costs of the Council of the European Union