Russian man faces 5 years in prison for playing Pokemon Go

Ruslan Sokovsky, a Russian blogger from Yekaterinburg, was arrested on September 3, by a local court. The reason: in August, Sokolovsky posted a video on his YouTube channel showing him playing Pokemon Go—and catching actual pokemons—in the Temple on Blood, a local Orthodox church built to commemorate the murder of Tsar Nicholas II and his family. The police consider this to be a violation of the Russian law against mockery of religious beliefs.

On July 15, the TV news network Rossiya 24 aired a segment listing the ways playing the mobile game Pokemon Go would be illegal in Russia. Specifically, the news anchor told viewers that attempts to catch Pokemons in other people's homes or at voting stations (Russia has elections in September) could cost players steep fines and even correctional labor for as long as a year. The world's hottest mobile game could even land Russians in prison for up to three years, if they're caught playing it near international borders or inside churches, according to Rossiya 24.

In the video, published on August 11, Sokolovsky derided the ban to play the game in churches. However, in the video, Sokolovsky didn’t seem concerned. “Who can be offended by the fact that you’re walking around a church with a smartphone?” he asked before heading to the building.

It didn’t play well. A week later, Valery Gorelykh, a spokesperson for the regional police department, said that the video will be checked for violations of law. He also expressed his personal opinion, saying that such “pokemonists” should be sent to jail for 5 years minimum so that others would be discouraged from committing blasphemy.

On September 2, Sokolovsky was detained. The police took the keys to his rented apartment from the bloger’s landlord and came to arrest him early in the morning. The next day, a local court ruled to arrest him. Sokolovky is being charged with in mockery of religious beliefs, which is a criminal offense in Russia.

Sokolovsky is known for his anticlerical views. In one of his previous videos he sharply criticized the way of life suggested by one of the Russian priests. A Ural publication Ura.ru even asked the police to check his statements for suggested extremist views.