25 Jul 2018 18:01

Court to hear company's suit against Roskomnadzor over Telegram blocking on July 30

MOSCOW. July 25 (Interfax) - Moscow's Tagansky Court will hear a lawsuit filed by the company Zhivaya Fotografiya against Roskomnadzor over the blocking of Telegram on July 30, court spokeswoman Yulia Sukhinina told Interfax on Friday.

"The court hearing is scheduled for noon Moscow time on July 30," she said.

The company said in its lawsuit it was hurt by Roskomnadzor's attempts to block Telegram and asked the court to order the agency to restore user access to the company's website, which was blocked on April 19.

On April 13, the Tagansky District Court granted Roskomnadzor's petition to restrict access to Telegram in Russia, as the messenger failed to fulfill the Federal Security Service (FSB)'s order to provide keys for decoding user messages "that could be used for the undertaking of illegal activity."

The ruling took effect immediately. The court ruled that this restriction could be lifted only if Telegram hands over the keys to the FSB.

Telegram founder Pavel Durov said it was impossible to execute the FSB's order.