Blogger Arrested for Playing Pokemon Go Put on Russia's Terrorist List

A Russian blogger arrested last year for playing Pokemon Go inside a church was recently put on Russia's list of terrorists and extremists. Ruslan Sokolovsky's attorneys confirmed earlier today that the controversial video blogger was registered as a terrorist/extremist by the Russian government, meaning that all of his bank accounts were blocked.

Sokolovsky gained international attention last year after he posted a video of himself playing Pokemon Go at the Church of All Saints in Yekaterinburg, a church built upon the spot where the last Russian czar and his family were supposedly killed. In the video, Sokolovsky jokingly compared Jesus to a Pokemon and made several other comments deemed "offensive" by Russian officials.

Sokolovsky was detained in October for "inciting religious hatred" and later sentenced to a three year suspended prison sentence after being found guilty for a number of crimes, including possessing a camera hidden inside a ballpoint pen. Sokolovsky was also ordered to pull down the Pokemon Go video, which had been viewed over a million times on YouTube, and was banned from any "mass events".

That sentence was recently reduced to two years and three months after the charges related to the pen camera were thrown out.

As of the time of this article, the Russian government has not given an explanation for Sokolovsky's inclusion on their terrorist blacklist. It's unclear whether this is standard protocol for someone convicted of Sokolovsky's crimes, or if the Russian government is continuing to make an example out of him.

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