23-year-old blogger Ruslan Sokolovsky was given a three and a half year suspended sentence by a court in Yekaterinburg, Russia for uploading a video of himself playing Pokemon Go in church which “offended the religious feelings of believers,” a criminal offense in Russia. The prosecutor demanded three years and six months in prison for the Pokemon Go video as well as a series of videos from Sokolovsky’s “atheist” blog which “incited hatred” and “breached the right to freedom of religion.” A main part of Sokolovsky’s guitly verdict rested on his “denial of the existance of God” said the judge when she read the verdict.

Coda spoke with Sokolovsky’s mother Elena Chingina in the first episode of our animated series Jailed for a Like, which tracks cases of Russians imprisoned for their activity on social media.

“Ruslan didn’t offend anyone with anything. He simply expressed his opinion with words,” Chingina said. “He was shocked that for some cartoon you can be jailed or fined 500,000 rubles [$8,390].

Jailed for a Like

Sokolovsky uploaded the Pokemon video on August 11, 2016 and was detained on September 2, 2016 on charges of extremism and insulting the feelings of believers. He was put under pre-trial house arrest and then in a pre-trial detention center in October for four months after a visit by his girlfriend on his birthday violated the rules of his house arrest.