“Pokemon GO” player Ruslan Sokolovsky in Russia is currently in detention since October for playing the game inside a church. He allegedly recorded himself playing the game while inside a church and posted it on his blog in 2016. If he is convicted, he could be facing more than seven years of jail time.
According to Gamerant, the player is charged with “inciting religious hatred” after posting his video of playing the game while in a church. He is now under house arrest while his trial continues in Yekaterinburg city. This is not the first time Russia has been reported to impose specific laws in video games. Just last year, another popular multiplayer game, Overwatch by Blizzard was forced to remove a certain game scene in Russia. The sequence is said to be violating to the Russia’s homosexual propaganda legislation.
FIFA 17 was also reported to have some content against the same legislation in Russia. As a result, the game was asked to reclassify or be banned in the country. This isn’t also the first time that a “Pokemon GO” player broke the law for playing the game. Various report claims a robber used the game to lure players to a place where he can rob them. The good thing is police also found a way to attract fugitives escaping the law through the game.
At the moment, the odds of Sokolovsky winning the case is not yet determined according to Fox News. Niantic has yet to comment on the case and if they will be releasing updates in the future to prevent players from accessing the game while in religious areas, especially in Russia. Niantic has just released gen 2 Pokemon in the wild recently and has said to add more features in the game this year. This includes Pokemon trading and PvP mode.