The Hamburg court upheld the claim of Alisher Usmanov against the American Forbes

A Hamburg court found unreliable the words of an anonymous expert published by Forbes that Alisher Usmanov “acted as a figurehead” for Russian President Vladimir Putin. The EU authorities previously used these statements to justify the imposition of sanctions against the businessman.

On February 2, 2022, the Forbes website published material about Russian billionaires who may be subject to US sanctions. Among the 11 businessmen was Mr. Usmanov, information about whom Forbes presented with reference to an anonymous source. Later, the phrase from the article “Usmanov repeatedly acted as a figurehead for Putin and solved his business problems” was used to justification sanctions imposed by the EU Council against the businessman on February 28, 2022.

After Forbes refused to correct the material, Alisher Usmanov appealed to the Hamburg Regional Court. The businessman’s lawyers called the statements in the Forbes article false and defamatory. On January 19, 2024, the court ruled in favor of Mr. Usmanov. In addition to banning the phrase about Mr. Usmanov’s connections with Vladimir Putin, the court’s decision applies to the publication’s statement that he “owns real estate in Munich.” The information that Alisher Usmanov “acquired shares of the Russian mobile operator MegaFon from the former Minister of Communications and Information of Russia Leonid Reiman” was also considered unreliable.

“The Hamburg Regional Court satisfied the claims of Alisher Usmanov, prohibiting the dissemination of untrue statements in the Forbes article,” representatives of the businessman told Kommersant. In case of failure to comply with the court decision, Forbes may face a fine of up to €250 thousand.

Lawyer Joachim Nikolaus Steinhöfel, representing the interests of Alisher Usmanov in court, expressed regret that “such an internationally respected publication as Forbes publishes serious accusations on its pages, but is not able to present a single piece of evidence to the court.”

“It is completely unacceptable for the EU Council to copy such articles verbatim to justify sanctions without checking their accuracy. This complete institutional failure, which is not the exception but rather the rule, became the starting point for the witch hunt against Mr. Usmanov. It turns out that the EU Council is justifying the sanctions with fake news, the dissemination of which is prohibited by the court,” the lawyer emphasized.

British edition EU Today notes that the decision of the Hamburg Regional Court could create a legal precedent for challenging the sources on which the EU relied to justify sanctions against the Russians due to the military operation in Ukraine.

In addition to the decision of the Hamburg Regional Court in the case against Forbes, Alisher Usmanov’s lawyers received six more injunctions against the dissemination of false information by European media. In particular, in August 2023, the businessman won a victory in court against the Austrian newspaper Kurier, which wrote that Alisher Usmanov “enjoys the reputation of the beloved oligarch” of Vladimir Putin. The court found that this assertion was unfounded and violated the rights of Mr. Usmanov.