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Russian prosecutors seek 3 1/2 years for ‘Pokemon Go’ blogger
MOSCOW – Russian prosecutors requested a 3 1/2 year prison sentence Friday for a blogger charged with inciting religious hatred for playing “Pokemon Go” in a church.
Prosecutors made the request as the trial of Ruslan Sokolovsky, 22, wrapped up in the city of Yekaterinburg. A judge said a verdict in the case would be issued May 11.
Sokolovsky posted a video on his blog showing him playing the smartphone game in a church built on the supposed spot where the last Russian tsar and his family were killed. He has been in detention since October.
He is charged with inciting religious hatred. It is the same offence that sent two women from the Pussy Riot punk collective to prison for two years in 2012.
“Honestly, I’m really in shock that the state prosecutors asked for 3 1/2 years,” particularly because it wasn’t a violent offence, Sokolovsky was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying.
He said he is studying and working and could lose everything, if he is sent to prison.
The state RIA Novosti news agency quoted his lawyer, Alexei Bushmakov, saying he hoped for acquittal or a suspended sentence.
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