RUSSIAN TRADE MISSION GOES UNDER THE HAMMER

PRESS RELEASE

Franz J. Sedelmayer vs. Russian Federation

RUSSIAN TRADE MISSION GOES UNDER THE HAMMER

Public Auction takes place in Cologne,

Germany on September 18, 2013

The Kremlin again is faced with the foreclosure of a Russian Federation owned complex in the city of Cologne despite assurances by the Presidential Administration to protect and shield Russian state property abroad. Neither claims of sovereign immunity, nor frivolus litigation or excessive political pressure convinced German courts to help Russia in avoiding another pay day.

A second, subsequent auction is already scheduled for November 19, 2013, this time concerning another part of the Trade Mission located at Friedrich-Engels-Strasse in Cologne, to befollowed with a third auction in early 2014.

It is telling to see how the Kremlin, practically on a daily basis, demands from everyone to observe the rule of law, while the Russian Federation completely ignores her own obligations under international law. At the same time the Kremlin continues to advance the dismantling of universal human rights of the Russian people!

Find attached the Cologne City Court's auction schedule for case 093 K 039/07. 
Time: Wednesday, September 18, 2013 at 09:30h

Location: Amtsgericht Köln (City Court) 

Groundfloor, Room 37

Reichensperger Platz 1, 50670 Cologne, Germany 

Real Estate to be auctioned: Aachenerstr. 240 - 244  (former Russian Trade Mission)

Background:  Franz J. Sedelmayer, a German citizen residing in France, has obtained dozens of Swedish and German judgments and also a Swedish arbitral award against the Russian Federation for several million US-Dollars between 1998 and 2013, under the auspices of the Stockholm Arbitration Institute and public courts in Sweden and Germany.  The initial arbitration case concerned the illegal expropriation of Sedelmayer’s holdings in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in 1995 by the late Russian President Boris Yeltsin. 

Russia has since  categorically refused to compensate this creditor. Sedelmayer managed to  auction off other Russian Federation property in Germany, making him the onlysuccessful private creditor of Russia to date.

The former Russian Trade Mission in Lidingö, Sweden is currently also in foreclosure with an auction date to be scheduled in early 2014.

Numerous counter-claims brought by Russia against Sedelmayer in the European courts have all been dismissed with prejudice. Russia also failed to enforce frivolous tax claims brought against Sedelmayer in the public courts in Europe.

Germany traditionally applies the doctrine of restrictive immunity allowing compulsory enforcement into assets a foreign state holds in Germany as long as those assets are being used for commercial purposes. Germany’s Constitutional Court handling three Russian Federation applications against the creditor Sedelmayer held that the public auction of the former Trade Mission is legal and is not protected by sovereign immunity.

Sweden's highest court, the Högsta Domstulen, has also held that Russia enjoys no immunity from execution concerning her former Trade Mission in Lidingö, Sweden. Russia had unsuccessfully claimed the former Trade Mission to be an integral part of her embassy in Sweden and thus inviolable.

Franz J. Sedelmayer, Creditor