"Pokemon Catcher" found guilty of insulting feelings of believers

On May 11, the Verkh-Isetsky District Court of Yekaterinburg found blogger Ruslan Sokolovsky guilty of inciting hatred and insulting the religious feelings of believers, reports RIA Novosti.

The court gave him a suspended sentence of three and a half years in prison and compulsory work, without changing his place of residence and reporting once a month, for playing the Pokemon Go game at a Yekaterinburg church. The court also obliged Sokolovsky to remove information published on the Internet.

The court's decision says that the blogger insulted the religious sentiments of not only Christians but also Muslims. In addition, according to the judge, his actions were aimed at inciting hatred towards the Russian Orthodox Church and personally to Patriarch Kirill.

The court also found that Sokolovsky had purchased a special gadget, namely a pen with a video recording function, without permission. The gadget was found during a search in Sokolovsky's apartment, and he was convicted of illegal operations involving this equipment.

The blogger himself said in the last word that the charges brought to him shocked him. During the interrogations, he refused to plead guilty.

Last August, Sokolovsky posted a video on YouTube where he plays the Pokemon GO game during the service at the Church-on-the-Blood. The video was accompanied by obscene language, stylized as a church hymn, and in the end the blogger ridiculed the basics of Christianity.