Russia: Arrested for playing Pokemon Go in Church.

[Rageaholic]

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He's been charged with "inciting hatred and offending religious sensibilities" and could face FIVE YEARS in prison for this! I can understand how playing smart phone games in churches could be seen as disrespectful, but the state should not get involved. Even a fine would be overkill, let alone prison.

[Greenday]

Could have just stopped at Russia tbh.

[Josh]

Originally Posted by Rageaholic

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He's been charged with "inciting hatred and offending religious sensibilities" and could face FIVE YEARS in prison for this! I can understand how playing smart phone games in churches could be seen as disrespectful, but the state should not get involved. Even a fine would be overkill, let alone prison.

well.... in addition to that single sentence you quoted there was also the following:

'Sokolovsky says: “How can one offend by entering a churc'h with a smartphone?
“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.”'

"the vlogger refers to news reports warning players could be jailed if they played the game in the church."

....so. he knew he could be arrested and decided that grabbing a couple of more youtube subscribers/views gave him immunity.

'Yevgeny Roizman, the mayor of Yekaterinburg, said the arrest was a “disgrace”. “You can’t arrest a man for idiocy,” he added.'

....this is Russia, and yes, they can and will arrest you for being an idiot. Specially an idiot that obviously takes joy in legally taunting a set institution; and to the joy of the tauntees; managed to cross the legal line.

"Sokolovsky, who has almost 300,000 subscribers on YouTube, has previously made videos criticising the Russian church. "