Russia says ‘spy pen’ found on blogger

Russia on Tuesday threatened to slap an extra criminal charge on a blogger who already faces up to five years in jail for filming himself playing Pokemon Go in a church.

Ruslan Sokolovsky, from the Urals city of Yekaterinburg, has been charged with offending religious believers and inciting hatred over a YouTube video that has been viewed more than one million times. Investigators on Tuesday announced that a search of his home and office had turned up a ‘spy pen’ for making covert recordings, for which he could face a further four-year jail term.

The 21-year-old video blogger is remanded in custody for two months and is appealing against his arrest. He filmed himself in Yekaterinburg’s Church on the Blood, built on the spot where in 1918 the Bolsheviks shot the last tsar and his family. In the video posted on August 11, he zaps Pokemons on a smartphone in front of the altar and swears as well as comparing Jesus to a Pokemon.

The case is making waves in Russia and has prompted comparisons with Pussy Riot punks, whose 2012 performance in a Moscow church led to two-year jail terms. Investigators have applied the harshest possible legal definition of Mr Sokolovsky’s actions using new tough legislation brought in after the Pussy Riot performance, which shocked many.

The Russian Orthodox Church is closely linked to the state authorities even while nominally separate, with clerics involved in education and the military.

Mr Sokolovsky, who creates videos voicing his atheist views and publishes a magazine called “Nothing Sacred”, has now refused to give testimony, citing his constitutional right, investigators said. “A scandal is blowing up that has the potential to become a second Pussy Riot case,” wrote Life News website.