Ruslan Sokolovsky transferred to house arrest

The video blogger who caught Pokemon in the temple, at the request of the investigator, was released from the pre-trial detention center to an apartment with a lawyer.

On February 13, 2017, the Verkh-Isetsky District Court of Yekaterinburg granted the investigator's request and transferred blogger Ruslan Sokolovsky to house arrest. The term of arrest is set to March 1. According to media reports, Sokolovsky will be in the apartment of one of his lawyers, Stanislav Ilchenko. Earlier, the Investigative Committee stated the need to keep Sokolovsky in a pre-trial detention center by the fact that he allegedly does not have a permanent place of residence.

Recall that Sokolovsky was arrested on September 3, 2016 on charges of inciting hatred (part 1 of article 282 of the Criminal Code) and insulting the feelings of believers in places of worship (part 2 of article 148 of the Criminal Code), on September 8 he was transferred under house arrest, and on September 28 October again sent to jail. On January 19, Sokolovsky's arrest was extended until February 22, 2017; on January 27, the Sverdlovsk Regional Court confirmed this decision.

Reason for persecution Sokolovsky was the publication of three videos. In one of them, the blogger plays the Pokemon Go game on his smartphone in a Yekaterinburg church, in another he comments on this event, and in the third he criticizes the article "If you want to get married, you should not just sigh about it, but prepare" published on the website of the Patriarchate. In January 2017, it became known that Sokolovsky was charged with a new charge - under Art. 138.1 of the Criminal Code (illegal circulation of special technical means intended for secretly obtaining information). The investigation found that Sokolovsky illegally acquired a fountain pen with a hidden camera.

From our point of view, the persecution of Sokolovsky is unlawful. Posting a video about playing Pokemon Go in a temple is not subject to Art. 282 of the Criminal Code, since this video does not contain any aggressive appeals. In addition, we believe that the application of Art. 148 of the Criminal Code: none of the visitors to the temple noticed the actions of the blogger and, moreover, did not suffer from them, no damage was caused to objects of worship, and the video did not encroach on sacred space in any way. As for the second and third videos, they are replete with foul language and derogatory characteristics of religion in general, Orthodoxy and the Orthodox, but also do not contain any dangerous appeals. We believe that humiliation of dignity should be removed from Art. 282 of the Criminal Code and transferred to the Code of Administrative Offenses, since it does not pose a serious danger to society.

Sources

• Arrested for catching Pokemon in the temple was transferred from the pre-trial detention center to house arrest // Meduza. February 13, 2017
• In the Urals, a blogger who caught Pokemon in a temple was transferred to house arrest // RIA News. February 13, 2017