Watchdog

Two opponents of a massive demolition plan by Moscow city authorities were the subject of separate attacks in the Russian capital.

An activist from Russia's opposition Yabloko party, Natalya Fyodorova, has temporarily lost her sight after an assailant splashed an unknown liquid on her face.

The leader of Yabloko party's Moscow branch, Sergei Mitrokhin, wrote on Twitter that the attack by the unknown assailant took place in Moscow on April 28.

According to Mitrokhin, Fyodorova was being treated in a hospital where doctors said they were confident she would regain her vision.

Yabloko wrote on its website that the attack may be linked to Fyodorova's opposition to the plan by Moscow city authorities to demolish 8,000 five-story Soviet-era apartment buildings in the Russian capital.

The plan has sparked protests among many Moscow residents.

President Vladimir Putin in February publicly backed the plan to demolish the buildings, which house about 1.6 million people. But Putin said on April 26 that he would not sign the law if it violated citizens' rights.

Russian State Duma Deputy Sergei Shargunov, a member of the Communist Party, said on April 28 that his apartment had been targeted in an arson attack on April 21, a day after he voted against legislation on the demolition of the apartment buildings.

Shargunov wrote on Facebook on April 28 that he believes arsonists sparked the fire on April 21 by throwing an incendiary object onto his balcony.

He said that one room was totally destroyed and that his father, who was in the apartment at the time, escaped unharmed.

Shargunov was one of four Communist lawmakers who voted against the bill on April 20, in the first of three required readings in the lower house.

With reporting by rbc.ru and Meduza

Russian prosecutors have called for a 3 1/2-year prison term for a blogger charged with inciting hatred for playing the game "Pokemon Go" in a church, a sentencing request that the defendant said was shocking.

The state prosecutor made the request on April 28 at the trial of Ruslan Sokolovsky, 22, in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg.

In his final testimony in a trial criticized by human rights groups, Sokolovsky said he was "really shocked by the prosecutor's request."

He urged the court to pronounce a more lenient sentence if he is found guilty, saying that his actions "had nothing to do with violence" and that he is not an extremist.

The judge then adjourned the trial, saying the verdict will be pronounced on May 11.

Sokolovsky was arrested in September after posting a video showing him playing Pokemon Go in a Russian Orthodox church in the Urals city in August, during a craze for the game app.

The post on Sokolovsky's YouTube channel, which had around 300,000 subscribers at the time, followed a warning on state television not to catch the virtual creatures at religious sites.

For the church video and others, he was charged with inciting hatred and offending the feelings of religious believers.

Amnesty International has denounced the prosecution of Sokolovsky as a "farcical attack on freedom of expression."

The blogger faces up to 7 1/2 years in prison if found guilty, though judges seldom impose sentences that exceed the prosecutors' recommendations.

Acquittals are very rare in Russian courts, which Kremlin critics say routinely do the bidding of President Vladimir Putin's government and regional authorities.

Sokolovsky is currently under house arrest.

With reporting by Mediazona and Interfax