The European Council reappointed Mark Ilesic as a judge on the European Court of Justice. The judge's term will run until Oct. 6, 2027, and was set as part of the partial renewal of the court's composition in 2021. Ilesic has sat as a judge on the Court of Justice since 2004.

Germany charged four managers of spyware company FinFisher with intentionally violating dual-use export controls after they sold surveillance products, without licenses, to countries outside the EU. The managers of the FinFisher group of companies, which were some of the “world's leading” spyware firms before declaring insolvency last year, never “even applied for” export licenses from German authorities and tried to evade detection, Munich’s public prosecutor announced this week, according to an unofficial translation.

The European Council dropped Nizar Al-Assaad from the EU's Syria sanctions regime following an EU General Court decision that found the EU erred in deciding that he met sanctions criteria, the EU Sanctions Blog reported May 18. The court also held that the EU violated his "legitimate expectations, the principle of legal certainty, the principle of res judicata," reported the blog, which is authored by U.K. lawyer Maya Lester, who represented Al-Assaad in the matter.

The England and Wales Commercial Court rejected commercial bank UniCredit's claim it is not liable in civil proceedings, even where it otherwise would have been held liable, if it held a "reasonable belief" it was acting in compliance with sanctions regulations. The court said this defense did not apply to the bank, forcing UniCredit to pay its debt related to the lease of an aircraft to Russian companies. The court said that while UniCredit believed it was following the U.K.'s Russia sanctions regime by not paying Celestial Aviation Services, UniCredit's real motive was to delay payment to shield its cashflow rather than ensure sanctions compliance.

The U.K. issued a General License under its Russia and Belarus sanctions regimes permitting sanctioned individuals and entities to pay legal fees to law firms and counsel. The license took effect on April 29 and permits these payments in relation to any matter, except defamation or malicious falsehood proceedings, until Oct. 28. The license distinguishes between legal services issued pre-listing and post-listing.

The European Council adopted a new law setting up a digital platform that it said allows for an easier exchange of information between prosecutors and judges working in joint investigation teams. The voluntary platform will "enable the exchange and temporary storage of operational information and evidence, ensure secure communication and facilitate the traceability of evidence," the council said in an April 24 news release. Eu-LISA, the EU agency for the management of large-scale IT systems in the area of justice, will be charged with designing the platform. The council said the platform's operation start date will be "no later than two and half years after the entry into force of the regulation."

An attorney for Russian billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said EU sanctions on him and his family are "an abuse of power" and serve "no understandable, no reasonable purpose under the EU foreign policy goals." In a public appeal of the sanctions in the EU General Court, Pumpyansky said he and his family are "collateral damage in the conflict between Russia and the EU" and are "mere hostages of EU foreign policy," Bloomberg reported April 25. Pumpyansky was listed in March 2022 as founder of Russia's largest pipemaker TMK PJSC. His lawyers said he is not a Russian oligarch and is instead a "self-made businessman."

The EU General Court tossed an application for an injunction on sanctions against the former director of African Gold Refinery Ltd., registered in Uganda, under the EU's Democratic Republic of the Congo sanctions list, according to an unofficial translation. The court ruled the unnamed applicant failed to establish the condition relating to the urgent need for the injunction.

The EU and Ukraine agreed to abide by each other's court decisions under the framework of the Hague Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil or Commercial Matters, the European Council announced. This convention requires signatories to recognize and enforce judgments offered in civil or commercial matters in other states party to the agreement. The EU said there are no "fundamental obstacles" related to the independence of the Ukrainian judiciary that would prevent the treaty from taking effect. The convention will officially enter into force Sept. 1.

The EU Court of Justice tossed an appeal from the European Council seeking to reverse a General Court ruling that annulled sanctions on Aisha Muammer Mohamed El-Gadhafi, the daughter of Moammar Gadhafi, under the Libya sanctions regime. The court ruled that the council did not sufficiently support its claim that annulling the sanctions decisions would cause serious and irreversible harm to the effectiveness of the sanctions. Merely alleging that El-Gadhafi might move to prevent fund-freezing measures from being applied was not enough, the court said.