THURSDAY, March 28, 2024
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Russian Church accuses blogger of 'blasphemy' over Pokemon Go

Russian Church accuses blogger of 'blasphemy' over Pokemon Go

MOSCOW - Russia's influential Orthodox Church on Tuesday accused a blogger of blasphemy as he faces up to five years in prison for filming himself playing Pokemon Go in a church.

Ruslan Sokolovsky from the Urals city of Yekaterinburg is in detention after being charged with offending religious believers and inciting hatred, over a YouTube video that has been viewed more than one million times.

The 21-year-old video blogger filmed himself in Yekaterinburg's Church on the Blood, built on the spot where in 1918 the Bolsheviks shot the last tsar and his family.

The case is making waves in Russia -- where the Orthodox Church has close ties to the authorities -- and has prompted comparisons with the Pussy Riot punk art group whose 2012 performance in a Moscow cathedral led to two-year jail terms.

In the video posted August 11, Sokolovsky zaps Pokemons on a smartphone in front of the altar and swears -- while also comparing Jesus to a Pokemon.

The video blogger has been remanded in custody for two months and is appealing against his arrest.

The Russian Orthodox diocese of Yekaterinburg on Tuesday issued an edict on the Church's position, saying the blogger deliberately committed "blasphemy in a holy place."

The Church said his actions prompted "protests by believers nationwide" and "must be decisively checked in strict accordance with the country's laws".

Those who urged forgiveness and called on the authorities to release Sokolovsky "are confusing Christian universal forgiveness with the Stockholm Syndrome," where prisoners identify with their captors, the statement said.

Investigators have applied the harshest possible legal definition on Sokolovsky's actions under controversial legislation brought in after the Pussy Riot case, which sparked condemnation of Russia by the West.

The situation could now get even worse for the blogger after officials suggested they could slap an extra criminal charge on him as investigators on Tuesday said that while searching his home and office they found a "spy pen" for making covert recordings.

The Church's reaction was unexpectedly harsh, however, considering that the Metropolitan Kirill who heads the Yekaterinburg diocese said earlier this week: "We don't want his blood."

'Jeering at faith'

Sokolovsky, who creates videos about his atheist views and publishes a magazine called "Nothing Sacred", has refused to testify, citing his constitutional right, investigators said.

Pro-Kremlin media meanwhile has seized on the case.

"A scandal is blowing up that has the potential to become a second Pussy Riot case," wrote Life News website, saying Sokolovsky was "jeering at faith."

Russian Orthodox Church spokesman Vladimir Legoida wrote on Facebook that Sokolovsky "was no chance passer-by" but "works in the style of Charlie Hebdo -- that is deliberate provocation," referring to the French satirical weekly that has run cartoons of the Islam's Prophet Mohammed.

Amnesty International has appealed for Russia to immediately release Sokolovsky, calling the charges against him "farcical."

Yekaterinburg mayor, opposition politician Yevgeny Roizman, wrote on Facebook: "This is barbaric. The guy gave provocation, sure, but you can't arrest someone for being idiotic."
- AFP

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