MOSCOW, October 6 - RAPSI, Alyona Yegorova. The court has canceled the communications watchdog's decision to ban Jehovah's Witnesses from distributing its magazines in Russia, Jehovah's Witnesses' lawyer told the Russian Legal Information Agency (RAPSI).

The Moscow Commercial Court has confirmed the information.

The Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor) on April 6, 2010 canceled the permission to publish the Awake! and Watchtower magazines in Russia. The State Press Committee granted permission to Jehovah's Witnesses in 1997.

The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society (Wachtturm Bibel - und Traktat-Gesellschaft, Deutscher Zweig, e.V) and Jehovah's Witnesses regional management center challenged the watchdog's prohibition.

The claimants said the prohibition is illegal and can only be imposed by the court.

Jehovah's Witnesses is an international religious organization. Many representatives of traditional religions consider it to be a totalitarian pseudo-Christian sect. As of August 2009, the organization had about 7 million members.