There’s a time and a place to play video games, and in general it is typically frowned upon to play games inside a place of worship. However while it is frowned upon, it isn’t necessarily illegal, or at least that’s the case for most parts in the world. Unfortunately over in Russia, it’s a different story.Russian YouTuber and blogger Ruslan Sokolovsky has recently been found guilty for playing Pokemon GO in a church and uploading a video onto YouTube which pretty much served as evidence. Prior to this we reported that Sokolovsky was awaiting a verdict and it seems that he has since been found guilty and could face three years in jail, which is what the prosecutors are lobbying for.
Sokolovsky knew about the rules against playing Pokemon GO in church and the reason he uploaded the video was to protest at how ridiculous it was. In the video he was quoted as saying, “Who can ever be offended by you walking around a church with your smartphone? Why the f*ck would they lock you up for that?”
Amnesty International has since lobbied for his release, arguing that the punishment and the law itself is a restriction on free speech. It is unclear if they will be successful in their lobbying attempts, but for now the future is rather bleak for Sokolovsky.
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