Court bans three pornography websites for 'offending the feelings of believers'

What the court decided

In Russia, three websites will be blocked by court order after an inspection found pornographic videos featuring girls in Islamic religious attire; one of the resources had an entire section with girls of Arab appearance. This was reported by the Telegram channel Mash, which is cited by Gazeta.Ru.

Grounds for the lawsuit and next steps

The Preobrazhensky interdistrict prosecutor's office concluded that the videos, accessible to any user without registration or age restrictions, could desecrate Islam and constitute an offense against the feelings of believers. After the lawsuit was filed, the Preobrazhensky court sided with the prosecutor's office and banned the distribution of the materials on three resources. The decision will be sent to Roskomnadzor, after which all three websites will be added to the registry of banned resources. In practical terms, this means that access to them from Russia will be restricted once they are included in the registry.

Context of other cases

The publication's materials also cite other recent cases: it was previously reported that a Russian adult film actress faces prison time for producing pornography — the case involved working as part of a group, using the internet, and earning income on a large scale — while a teacher from Primorsky Krai who was caught up in a pornography scandal was charged with pedophilia and Nazism. These episodes are related to the topic only thematically and are not part of the case concerning the blocking of the three websites.