A Moscow court ruled Friday that prosecutors didn't have legal grounds for a raid on a media company that has criticized the Kremlin.

Masked, gun-toting police searched the offices of Media-MOST on May 11, prompting accusations that President Vladimir Putin was trying to suppress media freedoms.

MOST head Vladimir Gusinsky said that the search was illegal and represented an attempt to punish the group and its media outlets for critical coverage of the Kremlin. He said he had received numerous threats from the Kremlin.

The group's lawyers went to court, saying authorities had no grounds for a search. The Presnya district court in Moscow agreed, ruling that prosecutors didn't have sufficient legal justification and ordering them to immediately return all confiscated documents and equipment.

Alexander Agadzhanov, who represented the Prosecutor General's office in court, said that it would appeal.

Government officials denied the raid was politically motivated and described it as part of an investigation into alleged violations of privacy law by MOST's security service. They claimed investigators found evidence of eavesdropping on politicians, businessmen and journalists, including bugging devices.