Germany’s Federal Court of Justice (BGH) has set aside two decisions that blocked service of Alisher Usmanov’s complaint on the Council of the European Union, his lawyers said Monday, clearing the way for delivery.
Rechtsanwälte Steinhöfel said the Oct. 21 ruling invalidated the Hamburg Regional Court president’s refusal and a Hanseatic Higher Regional Court decision upholding it. Anadolu Agency separately reported that the BGH concluded the Hamburg president lacked authority to prevent service. Anadolu also said the ruling did not determine whether the Council’s statements were false or defamatory.
Usmanov filed his Hamburg action in December 2023, according to his lawyers, seeking to stop publication of Council statements in the Official Journal of the European Union and publication of his personal data. The firm says he considers those statements false and defamatory. The judge assigned to the case had ordered formal delivery of the complaint to the Council in Belgium. The court president declined to carry out that instruction after seeking guidance from the Federal Office of Justice, which referred to objections raised by the Federal Foreign Office, the firm said.
The dispute relates to the Council’s 2022 sanctions listing of Usmanov. In its regulation, the Council cited claims about his connection to Russian President Vladimir Putin, including its statement that Usmanov had “reportedly fronted for President Putin and solved his business problems.” That language records the Council’s allegation; it is not a court finding. On Sept. 22, 2026, the Council adopted a regulation deleting Usmanov’s entry from Annex I to Regulation 269/2014 without giving an individual reason.
WELT reported on Nov. 28, 2025, citing internal files, that foreign-policy considerations were among the German government’s reasons for opposing service.
Joachim Steinhöfel, Usmanov’s lawyer, said access to courts was a “fundamental right.”
