Russian Blogger Faces Up To Five Years In Jail For Playing Pokemon Go In Church

An atheist vlogger, who has 295k subscribers on his YouTube channel, could spend five years in jail after playing Pokémon GO in a Russian church, according to The Guardian.

In August, Ruslan Sokolovsky filmed himself playing the popular smartphone game inside the Church of All Saints in Yekaterinburg and posted the video on YouTube, which you can view in the video above.

Sokolovsky was well aware of the risks and even stated in the beginning of the video that news reported had warned players that they could be arrested for playing the game in a religious building.

"How can one offend by entering a church with a smartphone?" Sokolovsky asked. "I decided to just catch some Pokemon in church because, why not? I believe it's both safe and not prohibited by law. Let's go."

After the video was posted, police began investigating Sokolovsky, and on Saturday, he was charged with inciting hatred and offending religious sensibilities, and is being detained for two months. If convicted, he could be sentenced to five-years in jail.

VladimirLegoyda, a spokesman for the Russian Orthodox Church, said that Sokolovsky's arrest had little to do with him playing Pokémon GO and more to with his brazen attitude. "It is clear that Mr. Sokolovsky was not a casual passerby, who in a fit of gaming passion went into the temple," wrote Vladimir Legoyda on Facebook (via gizmodo), "but rather a well-known young blogger in the city, who works in the style of Charlie Hebdo."

However,JaroslavNilov, head of the StateDuma's religious affairs committee, doesn't believeSokolovsky violated Russia's anti-blasphemy law. "In my opinion, catching Pokémon is not an insult to religious feelings," Nilov told RIA Novosti, "because it is simply the use of a mobile phone application within religious buildings."