EU court strikes down Mikhail Gutseriyev's sanctions for the second time in a year
The EU General Court has cancelled sanctions against Russian businessman Mikhail Gutseriyev for the second time in a year. The latest ruling, announced in February 2025, follows an earlier decision that overturned penalties imposed just 12 months prior. Both cases centred on claims that the EU failed to provide up-to-date evidence for its restrictions.
Gutseriyev, the founder of Safmar Group, first faced EU sanctions in 2021. Authorities accused him of supporting Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko and maintaining close financial and political ties with his regime. The penalties were extended multiple times over the following years.
In February 2024, the EU court scrapped the sanctions after finding that the EU Council had relied on outdated information. Despite this, the bloc reimposed restrictions shortly afterwards. Now, the court has again ruled in Gutseriyev’s favour, stating that the EU failed to prove he still benefited from or supported Lukashenko’s government at the time of the latest decision. The repeated annulments highlight ongoing legal challenges to the EU’s sanctions process. Both rulings stressed the need for current, verifiable evidence when imposing such measures.
The February 2025 judgement removes all existing EU sanctions against Gutseriyev. The decision confirms that authorities must provide recent, substantiated proof to justify restrictive measures. Without new evidence, the penalties cannot be reinstated under the same grounds.
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