MOSCOW, February 20 (RAPSI, Lyudmila Klenko) – Videoblogger Ruslan Sokolovsky who was catching pokemons in a Yekaterinburg church via Pokemon Go app has appealed his detention in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), lawyer Aleksey Bushmakov published on his Facebook account.

Sokolovsky is charged with incitement of hatred, violation of religious rights and illegal possession of special technical means intended for obtaining secret information. Investigation into Sokolovsky was completed and indictment was transferred to the Verkh-Isetsky District Court of Yekaterinburg.

According to investigators, from May 2013 to September 2016 the defendant produced nine video files and placed them on the YouTube. These videos, according to the forensic examination, contain signs of incitement of hatred or hostility, humiliation of human dignity and a group of persons on the grounds of nationality, religion, as well as against members of a particular social group. Placement of these videos on the Internet was qualified by experts as public actions, expressing clear disrespect for society and committed to insult the religious feelings of believers.

In addition, Sokolovsky allegedly used unlawfully acquired special technical means. Investigators believe that he recorded videos through special photo- and video-camera, mounted in the housing of a ballpoint pen. According to experts, the device corresponds to the category of special technical means intended for secret reception and registration of visual and acoustic information.

A criminal case against Sokolovsky was launched after he had published video on Youtube channel, in which he played the mobile app of the popular Pokemon Go game in Orthodox Church-on-Blood in Yekaterinburg.

Pokemon Go, a videogame with elements of augmented reality for mobile devices, became incredibly popular all over the world.