A Russian court on Thursday (May 11) gave a suspended three and a half year jail sentence to a blogger who was detained after he played the Pokemon Go video game inside a Russian Orthodox church last year.
Ruslan Sokolovsky was found guilty of inciting religious hatred after posting a video on YouTube where he is seen playing Pokemon Go on his cell phone in the church.
In the video, which contains strong language mocking Christianity, Sokolovsky likens Jesus Christ to a Pokemon character and says he had decided to play the popular game inside the church because he had seen a news report saying people who did so could be fined or jailed.
The video garnered more than 1.9 million views, and Sokolovsky was temporarily confined to a pre-trial detention centre.
The court in the Urals region city of Yekaterinburg also sentenced 22-year-old Sokolovsky to 160 hours of compulsory community service and told him not to show up in public places.
"Generally I am satisfied as I remain free and I have a possibility to work for social projects," Sokolovsky said after the sentencing.
His lawyer said Sokolovsky was unlikely to appeal Thursday's verdict.
Amnesty International said on Thursday the case against Sokolovsky was a 'show trial' and that the Russian authorities had 'misused the criminal justice system' by applying 'draconian anti-extremist legislation'.
Inciting religious hatred is the same charge used to prosecute the Pussy Riot punk band in 2012 when they staged a cathedral protest against Russian President Vladimir Putin. Two of the band were given two-year jail sentences.
