Russian Prosecutors Involve Google in The Tor Project Case
The Saratov District Prosecutor’s Office has involved Google in the case against The Tor Project, whose interests are represented by lawyers from Roskomsvoboda. The agency is asking the court to:
- Recognize the information contained in the Tor Browser application as prohibited in Russia;
- Declare the Tor Browser app, available on Google Play, as prohibited;
- Restrict access to the Tor Browser app;
- Order Google LLC to remove the Tor Browser app from Google Play.
“It’s absolutely unclear what specific information is in question or which law it allegedly violates,” commented Sarkis Darbinyan, head of legal practice at Roskomsvoboda, regarding the prosecutor’s demands.
Last week, Roskomsvoboda’s lawyers managed to overturn the blocking of The Tor Project’s website. The appellate court sent the case back to the court of first instance, now with the participation of the site owner. This means the decision was overturned due to procedural violations pointed out by the legal team.
The first substantive hearing in The Tor Project case is scheduled for May 26 and will take place at the Saratov District Court in the Dubki settlement, Saratov region.
Update as of May 26, 2022
The Saratov District Court accepted the prosecutor’s revised demands and decided to involve Google LLC in the case as an interested party. This was reported by Roskomsvoboda’s media lawyer, attorney Ekaterina Abashina.
The prosecutor’s updated demands are particularly noteworthy. According to the prosecutor, both the Tor browser (with the address https://torproject.org) and the Tor Browser app on Google Play violate Russian law. As a result, the agency is demanding to restrict access to the Tor Browser app and to require Google to remove the app from Google Play.
“Appetite comes with eating. After the decision was overturned and the case was sent for a new round, the Saratov prosecutor decided to go further. The grounds for the lawsuit remain the same, but the scope has significantly expanded. Now the prosecutor is asking to declare all information in the Tor browser illegal (without specifying which information—probably all of it!), and also to involve Google in the case to force the tech giant to remove Tor from Google Play for all Russian users,” notes Sarkis Darbinyan, head of legal practice at Roskomsvoboda.
The court in Dubki also granted the lawyers’ motion to transfer the case to another court according to jurisdiction rules, specifically to the Leninsky District Court of Saratov city.
“Within 15 working days, the case should be sent to another court, in Saratov. I think that because Google LLC is now involved, the case will take longer to consider than it otherwise would have. As for the revised demands to declare the Tor Browser app prohibited, rather than specific information on the website, such demands simply do not align with Article 15.1 of the Law on Information. A court decision can be grounds for restricting access to information under Article 15.1 of the Law on Information. Part 1 of this article states that it can only be used to restrict access to websites containing prohibited information (there is no mention of apps),” said Ekaterina Abashina.