Vladimir Pavlovich Peftiev (; , born 1 July 1957) is a Belarusian businessman, philanthropist and author. Biography Vladimir Pavlovich Peftiev was born on 1 July 1957 in the city of Berdyansk, Ukraine. Business Peftiev was co-owner of BelTechExport, a Belarusian arms and military equipment exporter. As of 2012, Peftiev sold his holdings in BelTechExport and "completely ceased his participation in this group of companies". He owned BT Telecommunications, investment and construction agent. Peftiev also co-owned Sport-Pari, an interactive lotteries operator. Another co-owner of Sport-Pari through one of his companies is Max Mirnyi, Belarusian tennis player and olympic champion. Peftiev was a minority shareholder of GSM operator "velcom". "velcom" was subsequently sold to A1 Telekom Austria Group and rebranded as A1. Controversies, criticism EU sanctions In 2011, after controversial 2010 presidential election in Belarus, the Council of the European Union listed Peftiev and his companies "BelTechExport", "Sport-Pari" and "BT Telecommunications" as sanctioned entities. In the Council's decision, Peftiev has been described as a "person associated with President Lukashenko and his family, chief economic advisor of President Lukashenko and key financial sponsor of the Lukashenko regime". Peftiev brought action against the Council in the General Court of the European Union. The team that defended Vladimir Peftiev in court included specialists in the field of human rights, including professor of Yale University and former President of Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Michael Reisman, and former Director of International Law department of University of Bonn professor Rudolf Dolzer. According to The Times, The European Court of Justice annulled sanctions against Mr Peftiev in 2014, after finding that the EU council had adduced no specific evidence to support its allegation that he was a key financial supporter of President Lukashenko, and as a result of that ruling the sanctions are deemed never to have existed. The General Court of European Union decided in Peftiev’s and his companies’ favour on 9 December 2014, annulling the sanctions and ruling that the Council of the European Union and European Commission failed to prove their assertions of Peftiev's links to Lukashenko. The General Court’s judgment of 9 December 2014 concerning Peftiev's company reads the following, deeming the sanctions to have never existed (clause 149): ...the Court held that [sanctions involving Belarus] should be annulled in so far as they concern Mr Peftiev. By virtue of that annulling judgment, the annulled acts, in so far as they concern Mr Peftiev,