MOSCOW. June 3 (Interfax-AVN) - Access has been blocked to one of the most popular file-sharing websites, interfilm.ru, which distributed pirate copies of movies.
The access to the website was blocked by law enforcement agencies in Holland, where the website server is located, at the request of the Russian Interior Ministry, a ministry source told Interfax.
"Offenders held by Russian police were posting on this website links to pirate copies of movies in file-sharing networks," the source said.
A criminal case was launched against the movie pirates who posted movies on the Internet before their official release, a spokesperson for the Interior Ministry's Investigative Committee said earlier.
"A criminal case has been opened over copyright infringement," the spokesperson said.
Pirates violated the copyright of Russian and foreign movie companies, which estimated the exclusive right to use a motion picture at over 5 million rubles, the spokesperson said.
Irina Zubareva, spokeswoman for the Interior Ministry's Department K, said that the detained persons are a married couple who made around 1 million rubles in two years of running the business.