Last year, in protest to Russia's anti-blasphemy law that criminalized playing Pokémon GO in church, vlogger Ruslan Sokolovsky filmed himself catching Pokémons in Yekaterinburg’s Church of All Saints, the site where the last Emperor of Russia Nicholas II and his family were murdered in 1918, and shared the footage on his YouTube channel:

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The 22-year old was then detained for two months for “inciting hatred” and “insulting religious feelings” after posting the video, and later taken to a pre-trial detention center for breaching the terms of his house arrest after the young man had posted a video on the Internet though he had been banned from using the web and mobile communications. Judgement was passed this Thursday and Sokolovsky was found guilty of all charges.

"In accordance with the expert evaluation, the court found blogger Sokolovsky guilty of inciting hatred, violating religious feelings and illegal possession of special technical means - a pen with a video camera," said judge Yekaterina Shoponyak who granted the prosecutors' wish and gave the vlogger a 3.5-year suspended sentence.

Judge Shoponyak pointed out that the 22-year old video blogger was on trial not only for playing the game in the church but also for posting several videos that offended believers. She listed "mockery of the immaculate conception," ''denial of the existence of Jesus and Prophet Muhammad" and "giving an offensive description of Patriarch Kirill," the head of the Russian Orthodox Church.

During the court hearings, Sokolovsky did not deny that he had been the author of these videos but concerning the pen with a camera, he reportedly said that not only was the pen not his, but that it wasn’t a camera at all, but instead just a light bulb.

During the interrogation of eyewitnesses, the blogger apologized to all worshippers who had complained about being offended.

What do you think of this case? Was the verdict fair in finding Sokolovsky guilty who on top of violating the country's anti-blasphemy law, additionally breached the terms of his house arrest? Or is suppressing one's freedom of expression a more serious offense?

SOURCE 1, SOURCE 2

 

[Yil]

I don't know If we should spare Satanism after purging Christianity and Islam.

 

[Deleted User]

lolololol he deserves it. this church is more then a religious place. its inapropriate to play this fucking shitty game in such a place.. (and I am not a christian, in fact im non believer

 

[Clydefrosch]

jesus would you fix the title to be less inaccurate and clickbaity??

playing pokemon in church is just one thing next to the clearly more serious violation of house arrest (in case that was some kind of state side punishment for another delict) and insulting religions on his channel.
now i can't say how badly he insulted religion, or if those were literally just off-hand comments. but people living in russia would know that this kind of stuff is taken somewhat serious over there.

 

[Yil]

jesus would you fix the title to be less inaccurate and clickbaity??

playing pokemon in church is just one thing next to the clearly more serious violation of house arrest (in case that was some kind of state side punishment for another delict) and insulting religions on his channel.
now i can't say how badly he insulted religion, or if those were literally just off-hand comments. but people living in russia would know that this kind of stuff is taken somewhat serious over there.

I don't really understand how Christianity survived SU's purge.

 

[rastsan]

Okay so just last week and the weekend before it both kids that are part of my life had religious events. the 13 years old went through confirmation
the 8 year old communion.
I agree whole heartedly with no games or electronic distractions in church. The 13 year old had just went through confirmation and there he was 2 days later with his nintendo switch in the church thinking it would be okay to play while his brother went for/through communion...
I have a grandmother who is a care taker for a church. the only games anyone should be playing in the church are games that support the church or the greater community. ANYTHING that shows even a hint of disrespect should not be done.
He went out of his way to be disrespectful. I don't care if he apologized or not. There are other things he can do to get attention than being as disrespectful as he was being. while one could argue that he brought attention to that church he did do it the wrong way. If the company who deals with pokemon sees this I strongly hope you remove any events that deal with pokemon caught on religious land. Especially in countries that have that expressly put into law.

wow just wow... its one thing for kids who don't know better another for an adult purposely breaking the law.

 

[SnakeOil992]

I'm an atheist, but the guy was fucking retarded if you ask me. He did all this just to provoke the church if you search about it a little more. I wouldn't jail him, but he still knew his actions would have repercussions.

 

[sarkwalvein]

I agree whole heartedly with no games or electronic distractions in church.

I agree with that, it is just disrespectful, and if you don't care and are not going to pay attention just don't go to the church.
That said, I don't think this is a matter to be taken care by the law.
Still the guy is either a disrespectful jerk, or a rebellious overgrown teen.

 

[bi388]

I'm an atheist, but the guy was fucking retarded if you ask me. He did all this just to provoke the church if you search about it a little more. I wouldn't jail him, but he still knew his actions would have repercussions.

He was clearly making a statement. He expected them and wanted them to come after him to bring attention to how fucked this is. How is that retarded? By this logic Rosa Parks and MLK are retarded too.

 

[Hayleia]

He was clearly making a statement. He expected them and wanted them to come after him to bring attention to how fucked this is. How is that retarded? By this logic Rosa Parks and MLK are retarded too.

Not a bullshit argument, but MLK and Rosa Parks were fighting for a cause that they could win. Fighting with the church is pointless. You can't convince them. It's not that they know they're wrong and just don't want things to change, they just believe you're wrong.

 

[rastsan]

Okay, technical details aside. The only thing that should have mattered was him breaking house arrest. Him playing a game in church shouldn't have been so much of a problem.


"Inciting hatred".. Yeah, okay.

If you don't feel it I am telling you - he just inspired hatred in me. Its a place of worship where former heads of state were killed in. some guy takes a video of him playing a video game FOR THE PURPOSE OF BEING DISRESPECTFUL. disrespectful to his country, to a any who are part of that religion, to any who like me feel that there are just some things you don't do.

 

[Wolfvak]

[...]Pokémons[...]

... sigh

I mean, he was fully aware it's against the law, it's not like he can blame anyone for what happened. Then again, it's kinda... ridiculous?

 

[x65943]

If you don't feel it I am telling you - he just inspired hatred in me. Its a place of worship where former heads of state were killed in. some guy takes a video of him playing a video game FOR THE PURPOSE OF BEING DISRESPECTFUL. disrespectful to his country, to a any who are part of that religion, to any who like me feel that there are just some things you don't do.

Do you not believe in free speech and the right to offend another person?

 

[MrJason005]

quote :In Soviet Russia team Rocket wins and sends you to prison.

you may need to do a little history research there is no soviet russia, the other point to pinpoint is that the other pole usa is acting like a spoiled brat,well both of them do. There is a word for everything propaganda of both sites and we are caught in the middle...

Don't make this political please (Ξέρεις...).

 

[Vipera]

Law and religion should be completely different.

He was a jackass in the house of the Lord? Great! Kick him out, excommunicate him, anything but arrest him. At the very extent, he should have been sued for defamation. Then again, they did have this shitty law in place and that's just wrong.

 

[matthi321]

that was stupid of him he can only blame himself

 

[rastsan]

For me this isn't about free speech its about a guy who knew better about doing something really disrespectful and against the law. For some reason the videos are still up... Part of the sentence should have been to take them down. In fact I get the free speech thing but wasn't about free speech or his tactic would have been different. Organize a protest, other legal and perfectly good ways to change the law were available. Does this article talk about that in any way? NO. That right there is pretty telling. its a disrespectful guy. Now me going to request this thread being shut down.

 

[wolfmankurd]

Not a bullshit argument, but MLK and Rosa Parks were fighting for a cause that they could win. Fighting with the church is pointless. You can't convince them. It's not that they know they're wrong and just don't want things to change, they just believe you're wrong.

He's just entitled he didn't expect any serious backlash. MLK and Rosa Parks did expect backlash.

 

[sarkwalvein]

Now me going to request this thread being shut down.

LOLNO. Safe space too much.

 

[x65943]

For me this isn't about free speech its about a guy who knew better about doing something really disrespectful and against the law. For some reason the videos are still up... Part of the sentence should have been to take them down. In fact I get the free speech thing but wasn't about free speech or his tactic would have been different. Organize a protest, other legal and perfectly good ways to change the law were available. Does this article talk about that in any way? NO. That right there is pretty telling. its a disrespectful guy. Now me going to request this thread being shut down.

Free speech is not about protecting speech you agree with, it is about protecting speech you don't agree with. Speech that everyone agrees with does not need protection.

Yes he did this knowing it was illegal, but this was to challenge the ridiculous law.

If someone offends you, all you have to do is stop listening. It's not like he physically damaged the church, he just spoke his mind and recorded himself. A law that restricts you from voicing your own opinions is an unjust law.

Can these people seriously not stand to have their feefees hurt?

 

[flame1234]

There aren't blasphemy laws in the United States. It's not like we (in the United States) don't have WAY more prisoners per capita than the next closest nation. Also, our constitution means blasphemy laws are unconstitutional. Our politicians make religion-based decisions all the time, but you'll never have people going to jail in this country for defaming or denouncing the name of god. Defacing places of worship is a property crime (damaging someone else's property). Playing Pokemon Go there - because places of worship are sometimes public places - would probably just get you asked to leave and nothing more.

By the way, Russia is #2 for prisoners per capita. It's like 2/3 of the amount the USA has. This isn't a race you want to win, folks.