Yekaterinburg [Russia], May 11 : A Russian court on Thursday convicted a blogger for inciting hatred and violating religious feelings by playing the popular Pokemon Go game in a local church.
In early August 2016, blogger Ruslan Sokolovsky filmed a video of himself catching Pokemon in Yekaterinburg's Church on Blood built on the site, where the last Emperor of Russia Nicholas II and his family were murdered in 1918, reports TASS.
The video stirred up a controversy among believers while a criminal case was initiated against him in accordance with the Russian Criminal Code's articles citing incitement to hatred and enmity, denigrating human dignity, as well as violating the right to freedom of conscience and religion.
The Yekaterinburg court said in its ruling, ""In accordance with the expert evaluation, the court found blogger Sokolovsky guilty of inciting hatred, violating religious feelings and illegal possession of special technical means - a pen with a video camera." According to the court, the blogger's guilt is proved by scandalous videos and evidence of witnesses.
During the court hearings, Sokolovsky did not deny that he had been the author of these videos. The judge said the blogger filmed scandalous videos to "earn money and attain fame." The state prosecutor had earlier requested a 3.5 year prison sentence for Sokolovsky.
Source: ANI
