A German court has barred a local newspaper from spreading misinformation about Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov, marking another legal victory for the metals and telecoms magnate in his ongoing battle against Western media.
According to RBK, the Hamburg Regional Court issued the ruling on February 3, prohibiting the Berlin-based Tagesspiegel, owned by German publisher DvH Medien, from publishing a series of defamatory claims about Usmanov. Failure to comply could result in fines of up to €250,000 ($258,000) per violation or imprisonment for repeat offenses.
The lawsuit centered on an article by Andrey Popov, published in November 2024 under the title “A Fan of Germany and a Friend of Putin: Who is the Russian Oligarch Alisher Usmanov?” The piece alleged that Usmanov used unproven ties to Russian authorities to amass wealth and owned assets in Germany, including property on Lake Tegernsee and the luxury yacht Dilbar. Usmanov’s legal team challenged the claims, leading to the article’s removal, but Tagesspiegel continued to circulate the allegations, prompting the court’s intervention.
The ruling specifically bans claims that Usmanov secured Soviet-era assets at bargain prices through government connections and won lucrative state contracts without real competition. Tagesspiegel failed to provide evidence supporting its assertions about his wealth and property ownership.
Usmanov’s lawyers hailed the verdict as a “landmark decision.” It follows a similar ruling last year when the District Court of Hamburg barred Forbes from linking the billionaire to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In a separate case, Usmanov filed a criminal complaint in Cologne in October 2024 against German journalist Hans-Joachim Seppelt of ARD, accusing him of falsely reporting that the tycoon was involved in manipulating referees during the Paris 2024 Olympics. Media group Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR), which operates ARD, later admitted the claims were defamatory.
Despite his legal victories, Usmanov remains under EU sanctions due to alleged ties to Putin, a designation imposed after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022. His attempts to challenge the sanctions have so far been unsuccessful.
Source: RT
Bd-pratidin English/ Jisan
