A Russian YouTuber Faces Five Years in Prison For Playing Pokemon Go in Church

The original YouTube video of Sokolovsky catching Pokemon in church

Popular Russian YouTuber Ruslan Sokolovsky is facing five years in jail for playing Pokemon Go in church earlier this month. The self-proclaimed atheist has been arrested for inciting hatred and contravening anti-blasphemy laws—the former is the same offence that saw Pussy Riot spend two years in jail back in 2012.

The 21-year-old, whose channel Sokolovsky! has almost 300 000 followers, would probably have seen this coming. The vlogger actually filmed himself playing the game in the Church of All Saints in Yekaterinburg at the beginning of August, back when the app was enjoying its peak period of hype. He did so in order to draw attention to Russia's strict laws about religion, and followed it up with other vlogs that were critical of the church. State-owned Russian news channel Russia-24 had previously warned that Pokemon Go players could be jailed if they used the app while in places of worship.

If you speak Russian, you can read the statement from the committee who arrested him here. It outlines the nature of his offences, which come under Article 282 of the region's Criminal Code and carry a maximum jail term of five years. Before sentencing, Sokolovsky will be detained for a period of two months while the investigation into his crime—essentially playing on his phone instead of singing hymns—continues.

Orthodox Church spokesman Vladimir Legoyda explained on Facebook that Sokolovsky was arrested not for the act of catching Pokemon in church, but for purposefully criticising anti-blasphemy laws by filming himself in the act. It appears that the vlogger's attempts to deliberately provoke Russian authorities are what got him arrested.

Twitter users are posting supportive messages using the hashtag #FreeSokolovsky, and the mayor of Yekaterinburg has also posted a supportive message on his Facebook, in which he calls the arrest a "disgrace." The status currently has over 4000 likes.

Some supporters are urging more Russians to play Pokemon Go in religious spaces in order to draw attention to Sokolovsky's unfair arrest and detainment.

Even when it's not being played in an Orthodox church, Russian authorities aren't big fans of Pokemon Go. In fact, several politicians have called for the game to be banned—as it is in countries like Iran. One Russian psychologist went on a popular radio show and called the game "degrading," comparing it to taking drugs. The Cossack community has gone as far as to link the app with Satanism.

For the record, the official Pokemon Go trainer guidelines do ask that users "adhere to the rules of the human world," asking that users "be alert at all times and stay aware of your surroundings."

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