Russian blogger convicted for playing ‘Pokemon Go’ in church

MOSCOW — A Russian blogger has been convicted for inciting religious hatred for playing “Pokemon Go” in a church and given a suspended sentence.

Ruslan Sokolovsky posted a video on his blog last year showing him playing the smartphone game in a church built on the supposed spot where the last Russian tsar and his family were killed. He has been in detention since October.

Judge Yekaterina Shoponyak on Thursday found Sokolovsky guilty of inciting religious hatred and gave him to a 3 ½-year suspended sentence. It is the same offense that sent two women from the Pussy Riot punk collective to prison for two years in 2012.

She earlier said Sokolovsky’s behavior and his anti-religious videos manifested his “disrespect for society” and that Sokolovsky “intended to offend religious sentiments.”