In adopting the EU's 21st sanctions package, the Federal Council on Wednesday imposed asset freezes on another 254 individuals, companies and organizations. At the same time, the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research removed six individuals and one company from the list, the Swiss government said.

The changes took effect at 11 p.m. on November 4. The statement itself names no names; those appear in the amended annexes to Switzerland's Ukraine ordinance.

Among those delisted are the billionaires Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman. Switzerland sanctioned Usmanov on March 4, 2022, following the EU's lead (finews reported). In removing him, Bern is once again falling in line with the EU, whose ambassadors decided as much on September 22.

Taking on the EU in court

That doesn't end the legal tug-of-war, however. On Tuesday, the German newspaper "Die Welt" brought to light an October 21 ruling by the Federal Court of Justice (article in German, behind paywall).

The case concerns a lawsuit Usmanov filed in Hamburg against the Council of the EU. He wants a court to bar Brussels from further disseminating its grounds for sanctioning him.

According to "Die Welt," he objects, among other things, to the claim that he served as a front man for Vladimir Putin. That claim relied on a "Forbes" article whose assertion has since been prohibited by the Hamburg Regional Court.

A lawsuit that never reached Brussels

The complaint, however, never arrived in Brussels. The responsible judge at the Hamburg Regional Court ordered in late 2023 that it be forwarded to the Council of the EU.

The court's president refused to send it, after Germany's Federal Office of Justice pointed to concerns raised by the Federal Foreign Office.

The Federal Court of Justice now deems that blockade "unlawful." The president "in no case had the authority" to refuse the service the judge had ordered, it found.

Outcome still up in the air

According to the Federal Court of Justice, the presiding judge of the civil chamber will now decide how the complaint is to be served. The Higher Regional Court had classified the suit as a legal remedy against a sovereign act of the EU, which would fall to the EU courts.

Usmanov's lawyer, Joachim Steinhoefel, told "Die Welt" the ruling is a landmark decision. "Access to the courts is a fundamental right and does not depend on the foreign policy of the government of the day," he said.

More fronts in Zurich and Frankfurt

Usmanov is also keeping the authorities busy in Switzerland. The Zurich public prosecutor's office is handling a request for mutual legal assistance from Munich related to pending German criminal tax proceedings.

It rejected broad inquiries at banks as a "fishing expedition" (finews reported). The presumption of innocence applies in the criminal tax proceedings.

And in Frankfurt, Usmanov is suing the German subsidiary of UBS, accusing the bank of unlawfully reporting him on suspicion of money laundering (finews reported).