Dutch service StartMail to challenge muting in Russia at court

MOSCOW, Jan 29 (PRIME) -- Dutch mail service StartMail, Startmail.com, that Russia earlier blocked for mass mailouts of false mining messages sees no grounds for such a decision and will contest it at court, the company said late on Tuesday in a statement signed by its CEO Robert Beens.

StartMail said it was registered with the country’s register of organizers of information distribution without its knowledge and was never addressed by the Russian government.

The communications service said on January 23 that it limited access to the mail service in Russia on request of the Prosecutor General’s Office. StartMail was said then to have failed to provide the watchdog with information on the persons administrating mailboxes.

StartMail said it respects only the laws of the Netherlands and will not fulfil the orders sent by the authorities of other countries, but will instruct them to file an official inquiry to the Netherlands on assistance.

Creation of false terroristic threats is illegal in the Netherlands and contradicts the rules of work of StartMail. If the Russian government sends proof of a criminal case to the Dutch authorities, StartMail will investigate the case and take measures if necessary.

StartMail got in touch with Roskomsvoboda, an organization that protects digital rights, in Moscow, and the entity will provide judicial help to the mail service and contest its inclusion into the register and blocking. The mail service said it had been put on the register without knowing it.

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