A teenager has been sentenced to prison for alleged terrorist threats stemming from a Minecraft structure they built.
Minecraft offers players “endless possibilities” by allowing almost anything to be built or created. Various servers offer different experiences and activities. There are over 141 million Minecraft players all over the world but it isn’t always fun and games within Minecraft’s blocks.
A 16-year-old boy planned to build Russia’s Federal Security Service building so other players could blow it up. This recently led to the Serbian teenager being sentenced to five years in prison.
Nikita Uvarov’s in-game actions led to real-life consequences in 2020. That year, Uvarov claimed he was innocent of possessing illegal weapons and passing a terrorist-related training course. But on February 10, the First Eastern District Military Court in the Krasnoyarsk region found him guilty of both charges.
Uvarov was just 14 when he was arrested in 2020. At the time, the teenager was distributing brochures that supported Azat Mifitakhov, who was in custody at the time for terrorism charges. After the arrest, investigators found that Uvarov had been chatting with friends about adding the FSB building to Minecraft with the intention of having it blown up.
Uvarov and his friends had stated “the FSB is the main terrorist” in pamphlets they passed out. Prosecutors allege Uvarov and his two friends had been criticizing the FSB in chats as well as reading banned books and exploding Molotov cocktails in abandoned buildings throughout Kansk.
According to the mother of Uvarov’s friend, she knew they were making bombs but called it a “small, childish prank.” Uravov echoed these sentiments, stating that he just had a “desire to learn something new” about physics and chemistry.
It’s claimed that Urvarov refused to cooperate with the investigators in 2020. He then spent 11 months in juvenile detention but was released to finish the 9th grade. During his trial on February 9, Urvarov continued to claim innocence, rejecting all charges.
“It was painful for me to see how my country oppresses people, civil rights activists, who want the best for the country and stand for its well-being. Now, unfortunately, I am experiencing myself the despotism of the unfair collaborators of the system,” Uvarov said.
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