If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison.
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On August 11, 2016, he filmed himself in Yekaterinburg Cathedral playing Pokemon Go.
Every time we think Pokemon Go fever has simmered down and nothing insane will happen now.
Sokolovsky had said in his video that he would catch Pokemon in the church, as he “believe it’s both safe and not prohibited by law”.
A Russian Youtuber has been arrested and charged for recording himself playing Pokémon Go in church.
A spokesperson for the police department in Yekaterinburg said that Sokovksky should be imprisoned for five years at a minimum in order to deter other players and discourage blasphemy.
Earlier, a state owned news channel had warned gamers not to play the game in Churches as it could land them in prison under the countries blasphemy laws. Sokolovsky asks in the video, which has since been viewed more than a million times.
“I was playing Pokémon Go while driving, so I didn’t really see what was in front of me”, 39-year-old Keiji Goh told authorities, according to Kotaku. In the video, he questioned how anyone could “get offended from walking with a smartphone in a church”.
But Sokolovsky, who has almost 250,000 subscribers, was arrested on Saturday for breaking the blasphemy law, and will spend the next two months in prison before standing trial.
Nadya Tolokonnikova, singer in the Russian punk band, the Pussy Riot tweeted in support of Mr Sokolovsky.
The Russian Orthodox Church is a powerful voice and is closely linked to the state authorities even while nominally separate, with clerics involved in education and the military.
But Amnesty International has appealed for Russian Federation to immediately release Sokolovsky, calling the charges against him ‘farcical’.
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Nilov further called Sokolovsky’s detention unnecessary, claiming that “catching Pokémon is not an insult to religious feelings”.
