The owner of Bitcoininfo.ru portal has won an appeal against blocking the cryptocurrency website. A court in Saint Petersburg has decided that access should be restored. And also that Nikolay Tonkoshkurov should be compensated for the unlawful actions of the prosecutors and judges who presided over the case.

The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation has overturned the decision by the Russian authorities to take down Bitcoininfo.ru portal. This comes about two years since July 2016 when the Vyborgsky District Court in Saint Petersburg ruled out that the website violated the Law “On the Central Bank of the Russian Federation” by publishing materials about bitcoin.

The website was a source of information and news about Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies.

Nevertheless, the Saint Petersburg court said there was only one monetary unit in Russia. Therefore, the electronic currency was illegal. Also subversive in regards to “the constitutional order, the authority of the Russian state, and the material welfare of its citizens.”

Nikolai Tonkoshkurov is the owner of the website. He was not subpoenaed to attend the hearing during the case in the Saint Petersburg court. He tried to appeal the decision for procedural violations to no avail. The court refused the appeal.

However, the case now returns to the City Court of Russia’s Northern Capital for reviewal following the

Ruling a relief for other websites

The Russian authorities took down about 40 websites. The current ruling to restrict ban on Bitcoininfo.ru is a relief for many other websites distributing news and information about cryptocurrencies.

Tonkoshkurov’s lawyer said the decision is important. Although it is disappointing that the Supreme Court failed to rule on cryptocurrencies in general.

He said authorities banned websites even without informing their owners and the decision “deprives entrepreneurs of proper legal protection.” He said these arbitrary decisions should be “considered invalid.”

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