A 16-year-old Russian teenager has been sentenced to five years in prison. All because he allegedly planned to blow up a virtual building in the popular crafting and survival game Minecraft.
The Guardian reports that Nikita Uvarov was sentenced behind closed doors by a military court in Siberia. He'll be locked up and will serve out his sentence in a penal colony on charges of 'training for terrorist activities', according to lawyer Pavel Chikov.
Chikov adds that two other defendants involved in the case were cleared on criminal charges and handed suspended sentences after cooperating with officials.
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Uvarov's punishment is not the first of its kind. As The Guardian points out, Russian president Vladamir Putin has seen a number of young Russians put away on preemptive terrorism charges.
Uvarov and two others were originally detained back in 2020 after they were caught handing out leaflets in support of a Moscow mathematician and activist who had been put on trial for vandalism. They placed one of the leaflets on a local brand of the FSB, Russia's domestic security agency and successor to the KGB.
When police took the trio's phones for investigation, they reportedly discovered messages that referenced plans to blow up an FSB building they had built in Minecraft. Investigators also claim to have found evidence that the teenagers were making explosive devices and detonating them in abandoned buildings.
The trio were originally charged with "participating in a terrorist organisation", but insufficient evidence meant that these charges were soon dropped.
The teenager pleaded not guilty and, said that he would serve any prison time "with a clear conscience and dignity".
“For the last time in this court I want to say: I am not a terrorist,” he said.