A court in Frankfurt am Main has ruled that the confiscation of documents and property conducted by the German Prosecutor General's Office during their investigation of Alisher Usmanov was unlawful. The court has ordered the return of these confiscated items to their rightful owners.
The previous year, searches were carried out on the Dilbar yacht in Hamburg and in an apartment linked to Usmanov's friend near Frankfurt am Main. However, in 2023, the court concluded that these investigative actions lacked sufficient grounds for suspicion. The prosecution's arguments were described as "vague suspicions" and "baseless assumptions."
Usmanov's defense had pressed for the seized materials to be stopped from use and to be returned to their owners. On October 26, 2023, the court granted this request, thereby confirming the illegality of the confiscation.
Representatives of Usmanov expressed their belief that the prosecutor's office's continued retention of the seized property, despite the court's acknowledgment of its illegal confiscation, amounted to a deliberate violation of the law.
They emphasized that since the initiation of the prosecution against Usmanov in Germany, the actions of the authorities have been questionable, involving unscrupulous leaks to the press and characterized by serious violations. Courts have consistently and successfully overturned unlawful decisions.
For instance, in May, the Frankfurt court definitively declared the searches conducted the previous year as groundless and illegal. It raises concerns about how many more court decisions will be necessary for German law enforcement to adhere to the law," said Joachim Nikolaus Steinhäfel, Usmanov's media law attorney from Hamburg.
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