The Moscow Arbitration Court has ruled as illegal the closure of one of the city’s gay clubs, banned from its premises under pressure from Oleg Mitvol, prefect for the city’s Northern Administrative District, GayRussia.ru reported Tuesday.

The club, Dusha i Telo (Soul and Body), rented space in a building owned by the All-Russia Blind Society but was evicted in August 2009 after Mitvol criticized it for promoting “moral decay.”

The court’s decision canceling the closure was passed in July and enacted in August but only made public this week. Mitvol has made no public comments about the verdict, but the club’s owners have promised to sue him for damages.