Sentence cut for Russian church Pokémon catcher, convicted for ‘inciting hatred’ against Christians

A St. Petersburg court has reduced the sentence of Russian video blogger Ruslan Sokolovsky on Tuesday, retroactively sentencing him to six months of suspended time.

The blogger came into the media spotlight back in 2016 after posting a video of himself playing Pokémon GO in a church, while making controversial remarks about Christianity.

The remarks led to Sokolovsky being found guilty of inciting hatred towards religion and insulting religious beliefs in May 2017. He originally received three and a half years of a suspended sentence, which was later downgraded to two years and three months. At the same time, he was added to a list of extremists.

As first-time offenses under Russia’s “extremism law” were decriminalized by order of President Vladimir Putin late last year, Sokolovsky’s lawyers filed an appeal, although by now the blogger has already served much of his suspended sentence.