It Finally Happened: Man Going to Jail Due to Pokémon GO

Pokemon GO can bring you to places. This time, it’s to jail.

Ruslan Sokovsky, a Russian Blogger from Yekaterinburg flouted the rules by playing Pokémon GO in an orthodox cathedral church and now faces a 5-year jail term.

The incident occurred at the city’s famous cathedral, the Church of All Saints which was built to commemorate the murder of Tsar Nicholas II and his family.

Insulting the feelings of worshippers and inciting hatred

The 21-year-old was convicted of insulting the feelings of worshippers and inciting hatred by the local authorities.

Sokovsky was first placed under arrest for two months after he posted a YouTube video of him playing Pokémon GO and catching real Pokémon at the place of worship.

The police consider this as a violation of Russian law against mockery of religious beliefs.

Testing the System

Earlier, there have been reports from Russian media that using smartphones in churches to catch Pokémon will be punished under criminal law, as the act reportedly violates the freedom to worship and might result in a fine of up to 500,000 rubles ($7,700) or up to three years behind bars.

Still, Sokovsky remains unfazed. In the video, he stated,” Who can be offended by you walking with your smartphone at a church? I find it strange, so I decided to catch some Pokémon in the cathedral … because why not,”

“I think it’s both safe and not prohibited by law,” he added.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfMn1yahGYk

The video has since accumulated close to 900k views on YouTube.

Local Church to bail out Sokovsky

Thankfully for Sokovsky, the local church head has promised to bail out the blogger.

There were also posts on Facebook praising the metropolitan’s efforts in standing up for the blogger.

Sometimes, it really baffles me why some people are just so damn stubborn on violating the laws even when they know they are going to get into trouble in one way or another.

This is as good as getting a Singaporean blogger to film a viral video of them smoking in a prohibited indoor location and filming a video to say “I decided to smoke in this prohibited zone… because why not.”

And praying that they don’t get caught.

#strawberrygeneration at its best.

Featured Image: YouTube (Sokolovsky!)

This article was first published on goodyfeed.com