For playing ‘Pokemon Go’ in church, Russian blogger may be jailed 3.5 years
MOSCOW — Russian prosecutors are demanding that a blogger spend 3.5 years in prison for playing “Pokemon Go” in a church.
Cossacks attend the Orthodox Easter service at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan in the southern city of Stavropol, Russia. Photo: Reuters
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MOSCOW — Russian prosecutors are demanding that a blogger spend 3.5 years in prison for playing “Pokemon Go” in a church.
The trial of Ruslan Sokolovsky wrapped up Friday (April 28) in the city of Yekaterinburg. The judge said a verdict would be issued May 11.
The 22-year-old Sokolovsky has been in detention since October, after posting a video on his blog showing him playing the smartphone game in a church built on the supposed spot where the last Russian tsar and his family were killed.
He is charged with inciting religious hatred. It is the same offence that sent two women from the Pussy Riot punk collective to prison for two years in 2012.
The state RIA Novosti news agency quoted Sokolovsky’s lawyer saying he hoped for acquittal or a suspended sentence. AP
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