In a judgment published on Wednesday 4 June (Judgment T-289/23), the General Court of the EU dismissed the action brought by Russian businessman German Khan. Mr Khan questioned his presence on the lists of people targeted by EU restrictive measures as part of Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine. The EU Council placed him on the sanctions lists in March 2022, on the grounds that his activities provided active material and financial support to Russian decision-makers, enabling them to conduct their war efforts in Ukraine. The decision was renewed in 2024 and again in 2025.
However, the person concerned considered that the EU Council had made an error of assessment in its decision, had breached the principle of proportionality, had failed to justify the renewal of the restrictive measure against him and had also failed to comply with the periodic review obligations. For all these reasons, he appealed to the General Court of the EU to have the EU Council’s acts annulled.
In the General Court’s view, however, the EU Council had provided sufficient concrete, precise and concordant evidence to include Mr Khan among the persons sanctioned, in accordance with the objective of weakening the Russian government in its war effort. These registration criteria are laid down by law.
In addition, the judges ruled that the EU Council is not required to provide any new justification when it renews a list, as the initial reason is sufficient.
See the judgment: https://aeur.eu/f/h66 (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)