The Russian atheist blogger who faced jail for playing Pokemon Go in a church has been handed a three-and-a-half year suspended sentence in a rebuff to prosecutors.
Ruslan Sokolovsky posted a video of himself playing the game in All Saints Church, Yekaterinburg, built on the spot where the last Russian Tsar and his family were murdered by the Bolsheviks on July 17, 1918.
In the video, which contains strong language mocking Christianity, Sokolovsky likens Jesus Christ to a Pokemon character and says he had decided to play the popular game inside the church because he had seen a news report saying people who did so could be fined or jailed.
Soon after the video appeared, state prosecutors accused Sokolovsky of inciting religious hatred, the same charge used to successfully prosecute the Pussy Riot punk band in 2012 when they staged a cathedral protest against Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The prosecutor requested jail time for Sokolovsky, saying a suspended sentence would create a dangerous impression of impunity. However, the local Russian Orthodox Archbishop, Metropolitan Kyrill of Yekaterinburg, asked for leniency, saying: 'We do not crave blood.'
Judge Yekaterina Shoponyak said Sokolovsky's videos manifested his 'disrespect for society' and that he 'intended to offend religious sentiments'.
Sokolovsky said he was relieved not to be going to prison. 'Without the support from reporters, I would possibly have been given a real prison sentence,' he said.
