Following a court order, the Russian government’s media watchdog, Roskomnadzor, has added to its Internet blacklist a page on a website called Polit-Ringtone, which hosted the song, “Medvedev—A Useful Guide to Bribe-Giving!”
According to Mikhail Sinelnikov, the owner of Polit-Ringtone, the decision to block the website is based on a court ruling in Russia’s Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug. Sinelnikov says he knows nothing of the trial’s details, except that it took place in March 2015.
The banned ringtone uses excerpted phrases spoken by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, edited to sound like he is listing various ways to bribe state officials.
The website Polit-Ringtone features ringtones on various political topics using excerpts from politicians’ public statements, edited and accompanied by music.
A trend has developed in Russia where regional courts ban websites without informing the sites’ owners, who typically live far away and know nothing of the legal proceedings against them. In September 2014, for example, a court in the Sverdlovsk region banned several Bitcoin websites.
“I haven’t seen the court order. In order to get a copy, I need to fly there or send a notarized letter, but the site will already be blocked by the time it arrives,” Sinelnikov said. The court’s ruling is not yet published on its official website.