The Court of Appeal overturned the decision to ban the jw-russia.org website

On May 30, 2018, the Supreme Court of Kabardino-Balkaria overturned a lower court's decision to block four websites, including the official website of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia (jw-russia.org).

Earlier, in February 2018, the prosecutor's office of the city of Prokhladny (Kabardino-Balkaria) filed a lawsuit with the Prokhladnensky District Court to block the jw-russia.org website in Russia, as well as three other unrelated sites about Jehovah's Witnesses. The reason for the prosecutor's appeal, presumably, was the article "A peaceful respected person is tried for his faith in the Elbrus region", dedicated to the unfair criminal prosecution of 70-year-old local believer Arkadi Hakobyan.

District Court Judge Tahir Metselov declined to involve the Watch Tower, Bible, and Tract Society of Pennsylvania in the case, despite the fact that the Society claimed its rights to the jw-russia.org site, indicated the existence of a copyright mark on the site, and sent a representative to protect its rights. As a result, the case was heard with the participation of only Assistant Prosecutor D.S. Chapsky, who stated that the sites should be banned only because they contain information about Jehovah's Witnesses. At the hearing, the court did not access the Internet and did not investigate the sites.

On March 20, 2018, the Prokhladnensky District Court granted the prosecutor's claim, deciding to restrict access to this site. However, now, 2 months later, the Court of Appeal has overturned and dismissed the case.