Russian courts decide on the blocking of bitcoin exchangers on a template. Even without specifying the domain

Roskomnadzor blocked Bitcoin-exchanger buybit.net , relying on the decision of the Komsomolsk District Court of the city of Togliatti of May 23, 2018. It is noteworthy that in the published text of the lawsuit, on the basis of which the site was entered in the register of prohibited, there is no mention of its domain – these places are replaced by dots.

“Recognize the information disseminated through the Internet information and communication network on the website … as information whose dissemination in the territory of the Russian Federation is prohibited,” the text of the document reads.

In this case, the grounds for blocking remained the same, as in a series of other similar cases :

"Cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoins, are money substitutes, contribute to the growth of the shadow economy and cannot be used by citizens and legal entities in the territory of the Russian Federation."

The missing name of a specific domain in the text of the court decision creates the impression that the following cases are conveyed:

“According to the screenshots submitted to the court, there is a website in the Internet information and communication network with the address: … on the pages of which there is an advertisement about the Bitcoin“ electronic currency ”, which is a virtual means of payment and accumulation”.

The head of the RosKomSvoboda public organization, Artem Kozlyuk, told BlockchainJournal in a commentary that depersonalizing websites in published court decisions is a common practice in the Russian Federation, although it is absurd.

“Cases of blocking sites, of course, often resemble each other. Prosecutors share their successful practices in building up sticks in their reports and stamping cases on a single model is not uncommon, ”he noted.

Kozlyuk also reminded that it was illegal to hold hearings on the site blocking in the absence of their owners and administrators.

“There is an explanation from the Supreme Court that the court is obliged to invite a representative to the process of restricting access to the site. In practice, this does not happen. But then there are high chances to win an appeal in higher courts on this basis, and to punish prosecutors with a ruble for that. The legal service of “RosKomSvoboda” has already had such successful cases , ”said Artyom Kozlyuk.

Recall that in March, Roskomnadzor, guided by a similar decision of the Kuibyshevsky District Court of Omsk on July 24, 2018, recognizing Bitcoin as a “money surrogate”, blocked access to four cryptocurrency exchangers: Bestchange.ru, Fastobmen.net, Pushpayer.com and Xchange.cash.

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