Nikolay Aleksandrovich Tonkoshkorov v. Prosecutor of Saint Peterburg’s Vyborsk District
Case Law- Country
- Country Location
Latitude: 55.84775990443999
Longitude: 37.50146462023251
- Country Location (linked Case Law)
- Russia
- Decision Date
- 20 de abr. de 2018
- Case Status
- Closed
- Case Outcome (Procedural)
- Reversed Lower Court
- Case Outcome (Disposition)
- Blocking or Filtering of Information
- Keywords
- Censorship
- Filtering and Blocking
- Judicial Body
- Supreme Court (court of final appeal)
- Case Number
- No. 78-KG17-101
- Case Summary
In a seminal judgment, Russia’s Supreme Court held that Mr. Tonkoshkurov’s rights were violated when a lower instance court refused to allow him to appeal an order that blocked his website. Mr. Tonkoshkurov was the website administrator of Bitcoininfo.ru, a website that provided information on cryptocurrencies. The Russian authorities blocked the website on the grounds that it provided information about virtual currencies, which violated Russian financial and information laws. Mr. Tonkoshkurov was not involved in the legal process that resulted in the blocking of his website. When he attempted to appeal the blocking orders, courts refused to hear him on the grounds that he had no standing in the case. The Supreme Court, however, declared the authorities must invite website administrators and owners to trials concerning blocking of their web resources. The Russian authorities often block websites silently, without notifying their owners and the hope is that this judgment will change the unlawful practice.
- Case Significance
The decision establishes a binding or persuasive precedent within its jurisdiction.
- Source URL
- Columbia Global Freedom of Expression