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THE COURT HEARING ON VIOLATION OF CONSUMER RIGHTS OF HOSTING SERVICE OF SEXUAL MINOROTIES WEBSITE APAGAY.COM HAS TAKEN PLACE

6/6/2004

THE COURT HEARING ON VIOLATION OF CONSUMER RIGHTS OF HOSTING SERVICE OF SEXUAL MINOROTIES WEBSITE APAGAY.COM HAS TAKEN PLACE

On the 26 March 2004 the Court of Pervomaiskii District has heard the claim of Ilya Krachina, one of the owners of the internet resourse APAGAY (Belarusian web-site for gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transsexuals apagay.com) against the foreign company Red Graphic systems.
The basis of the claim of the owner of APAGAY.com Ilya Krachina was his belief that Red Graphic systems has violated the consumer rights guaranteed by the Act of the Republic of Belarus of 9th January 2002 "On Protection of Consumer Rights". And that it has violated Article 34 of the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus, which guarantees the right of citizens to distribute and obtain information.
During the Court Hearing the representative of Red Graphic Systems assured the Plaintiff and the Court that "the company does not pursue the policy of deliberate preventing Belarusian gays and lesbians from entering internet space and therefore it is not appropriate to claim discrimination by Belarusian internet on the grounds of sexual orientation".
During the Court Hearing the Parties reached a Peace Agreement the main conditions of which are the following:

- Red Graphic Systems is obliged to observe all the terms and conditions of the agreement in relation to displaying banners apagay.com in the period of three days after the Peace Agreement comes in force.

- Together with the peace agreement the Parties are to sign an agreement on displaying banners of apagay.com in RED.BY net.

- In the period of three days Red Graphic Systems is to forward to the Plaintiff a written confirmation of their position not to discriminate sexual minorities internet resource apagay.com

- The Plaintiff is to fully withdraw his claim against the Respondent.

Taking into account that the conditions of the Peace Agreement were agreed by the Parties as a result of a compromise and these conditions do not contradict the legislation of the Republic of Belarus, the Court has ruled to approve the Peace Agreement. Therefore after the period legally allowed for an appeal the mentioned Peace Agreement will come in force as a court ruling.
After signing the agreement on banners exchange with Red Graphic Systems the owner of the internet resource APAGAY expressed his hope that the Peace Agreement and the above mentioned agreement will give sexual minorities internet resources a full access to Belarusian internet space. Needless to say that such an access means the content of the sites being in accordance with the current legislation of Belarus (in particular concerning prohibition of promotion of pornography, cult of violence and cruelty).
In January 2004 the National Hosting Company N1.BY of which Red Graphic systems is a cofounder refused apagay.com its services.
The owner of apagay.com made a written request to sign an agreement on provision of hosting services which were paid for..
The condition of the agreement is that it comes in force on the date of payment for services.
However the account APAGAY.N1.BY was not activated in the client's zone in the world wide web at the address N1.by
In his claim Ilya Krachina asked the Court to make the Respondent provide the services in accordance with the agreement on hosting services and to provide technical registration of domain names on the condition of a public offer and to pay 200, 000 roubles as a material compensation for moral damages.

Earlier in 2003 the system administrator of "Krassnaya Banernaya" RED.BY of which Red Graphic systems is a cofounder banned the portal APAGAY from banners exchange.

Belarusian gay, lesbian, bisexual and transsexual site APAGAY was founded in 1998. At the moment besides gay news it offers its users a wide range of free services such as fast chat, dating service, electronic mail, personal photo albums. The portal APAGAY is one of the ten most visited sites in Belarus. Its monthly audience is over 350, 000 people.