A court is examining on Monday the appeal of a Russian director and author against their continued detention on remand. The two women, deprived of their liberty since May, are accused of “ apology for terrorism” for a play that won a prize in Moscow. They risk up to seven years in prison.
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The lawsuits against the playwright Svetlana Petriïtchouk and the theater director Evguénia Berkovitch were launched after the denunciation of an ultranationalist group which saw in their play an “apology for terrorism”. Finist is a valiant hawk tells the story of women seduced, on the Internet, by radical Islamists whom they leave to join in Syria. The two women deny any praise for terrorism.
Staged in 2020, with the support, among others, of the Russian Ministry of Culture, the play was awarded two Golden Masks in 2022, one of the most prestigious Russian awards, in the category best theatrical work. and best costume design.
Statements against the war in Ukraine
After the launch of the legal proceedings, a first expertise had found there the indications of a “ rationale for terrorism “, but also signs “ of the ideology of radical feminism and the struggle against Russia’s androcentric social way of life “, but it had been carried out by a personality with dubious scientific credentials and had been recognized as invalid by the court, which ordered another.
According to those close to him, Evguénia Berkovitch’s legal troubles could be linked to his public stance against the war in Ukraine.
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