Russian Court Decides To Unblock Bitcoin Website

By Sumedha Bose

The St. Petersburg City Court in Russia has overturned the ruling of the Vyborgsky District Court of St. Petersburg to block the Bitcoininfo.ru website in Russia.

“The St. Petersburg City Court quashed the decision of the district court to recognize the information posted on the Bitcoininfo.ru website,” explained the city court on Monday, June 4, to Tass, a Russian News Agency.

“Vyborg District Court of St. Petersburg will again consider the case of the blocking of the site on cryptocurrencies, www.bitcoininfo.ru,” said the city court, adding, “The city court canceled the decision to block the site and sent the case [back] to the Vyborgsky District Court for a new hearing.”

The case began in July 2016 when the St. Petersburg Vyborgsky District Court ruled to block the Bitcoininfo.ru website in absence of the site owner. The court “considered the statement of the prosecutor’s office that the site contains information about cryptocurrencies” and decided to block the site, the publication detailed.

Going by the case file, Tass explained that the prosecutor’s office demanded the site be blocked due to its content about cryptocurrencies that “do not lend themselves to state control,” “promote the growth of the shadow economy,” and “do not have certain consumer properties.”

The website’s owner, Sarkis Darbinyan’s representative, told the publication that the prosecutor’s actions “takes place without the involvement of site owners,” and that none of them received “requests for the removal of prohibited information, and the city court refuses to accept appeals after the actual blocking of websites.”

He further added, “According to the statements of the prosecutor’s office of St. Petersburg, about 100 sites devoted to cryptocurrencies have been blocked.” The domain administrator appealed against the court’s decision, considering it as illegal. However, the city court did not grant his appeal so he appealed to the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, which subsequently ordered the city court to consider his complaint.

In March, the St. Petersburg City Court struck down a ban on 40 bitcoin-related websites offering information about cryptocurrencies and exchange services in Russia.