Prosecutors are trying to restrict access to suicide websites

The prosecutor of the Rostov region, Valery Kuznetsov, filed a lawsuit against the Southern branch of Comstar-Regions CJSC to restrict access to a number of Internet sites promoting suicide in the region. Experts note that there is no federal law establishing such a restriction.

As the prosecutor's investigation showed, residents of the Rostov region have access to 20 Internet sites that tell in detail how to commit suicide, the press service of the regional prosecutor's office reported. According to the press service, the number of child suicides in the region has been increasing since 2008 (six in 2008, 13 in 2009, 22 in 2010). In total, over the past year, 81 suicide attempts were registered in the region, so it was decided to limit access to such sites, the prosecutor’s office clarified.

According to a representative of the Southern branch of Comstar-Regions CJSC, the prosecutor's office has already approached the company with a similar claim. A year ago, she demanded to restrict access to the websites of the interregional public organization National Bolshevik Party, which was recognized by the court as extremist in 2007. This requirement was fulfilled. “In the new case, the situation is more complicated, since by closing access to sites, we will violate the law proclaiming the right to freely seek, receive and disseminate information. It would be more logical if the prosecutor’s office filed a lawsuit against the hosters who provided hosting services for websites on their technical sites,” the company told Kommersant.

According to Oleg Proskurin, partner of the JBI Expert law firm, the court will most likely refuse the prosecutor’s office. “The prosecutor’s office is trying to apply a method that has been successfully tested on extremist Internet sites. Since the Federal Law “On Combating Extremist Activities” does not directly provide for the possibility of terminating the activities of such sites, the prosecutor’s office used the powers provided for in Art. 45 of the Civil Procedure Code, namely: sending statements of claim to the court to Internet providers with a requirement to limit access to sites by adding IP address filtering rules to the border router. However, with regard to extremist activities, a corresponding law has been adopted and is in force, but with regard to sites promoting suicide, everything is different. The Federal Law “On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection” states that restrictions on access to information can only be established by federal laws in order to protect the foundations of the constitutional system, morality, health, rights and legitimate interests of other persons, ensuring the defense of the country and the security of the state. It would seem that the case under consideration fits the concept of “restricting access to information in order to protect morality.” However, there is no current federal law establishing such a restriction. The only such federal law will be the Federal Law “On the Protection of Children from Information Harmful to Their Health and Development,” which will come into force only on September 1, 2012,” says Mr. Proskurin.

Marina Klochkova

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