RantCrush Top 5: May 11, 2017

In Russia, a young man has been arrested and convicted for “inciting religious hatred” after filming himself while playing Pokémon GO in church and uploading the video to YouTube. Ruslan Sokolovsky, who has been detained since October, posted the video last summer but was sentenced to a three-and-a-half-year suspended sentence today. Sokolovsky said that if his case hadn’t received so much media attention, he would have likely ended up with a real prison sentence.

Now the judge is talking about the offensive nature of zombies to Orthodox believers. pic.twitter.com/lj4yndAuqY

— X Soviet (@XSovietNews) May 11, 2017

Sokolovsky’s supporters include feminist collective Pussy Riot. Two of Pussy Riot’s members were arrested and sent to prison for similar offenses in 2012. However, the court decided that because Sokolovsky is young and his mother depends on him, and since he apologized in court, he got a more lenient sentence.

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.