Earlier this year you no-doubt heard the troubling (and rather ridiculous) story of Russian Ruslan Sokolovsky, who was arrested back in September 2016 for playing Pokemon Go in a church. Sokolovsky was eventually convicted of that “crime,” receiving a suspended sentence. Thankfully, we now have word that his sentence has been reduced following a judicial review.
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For those who missed the original story, Sokolovsky uploaded a video of himself playing Pokemon Go in church, while making some mild anti-religious jokes (“Why can’t I catch Jesus?” and so on). For this, Russian officials charged him with inciting hatred or enmity, offending religious believers, and illegally concealing equipment for covert filming (he had a pen with a camera inside it on his person when arrested). This seems is part of a wider crusade against Pikachu and pals by the Russian Orthodox Church, who also got a Pokemon Go-related episode of The Simpsons stricken from Russian airwaves.
Sokolovsky faced up to seven years in prison for his offenses, but was ultimately handed a still-excessive sentence of three-and-a-half years of probation. Well, according to Radio Free Europe, a Russian court in Sokolovsky’s hometown of Yekaterinburg has reduced his sentence to only two-and-a-half years of probation. The main reason the sentence was reduced? They threw out the charge related to the camera pen – the stuff about inciting hatred by playing Pokemon Go in the pews still stands.
The Orthodox Church has seen a dramatic rise in power and influence in Russia in recent years, and now holds major sway over most levels of government. If the church decides they have it out for some random thing, like, say, a harmless monster-catching mobile game, there’s not a lot normal Russians can do to combat that.
Need more Pokemon Go news? You can catch all WWG’s latest coverage, right here.
[via Radio Free Europe]
