2023-05-05 18:37:21
A Russian court on Friday placed in pre-trial detention Evguénia Berkovitch and Svetlana Petriïtchouk, two artists accused of advocating terrorism for one of their plays, in the midst of a crackdown on dissident voices in Russia since the military offensive in Ukraine.
Evguénia Berkovitch, 38, and Svetlana Petriïtchouk, 43, who risk up to seven years in prison, have been detained until July 4, said the Zamoskvoretski court in Moscow, quoted by Russian news agencies. The day before, they had been arrested and interrogated in Moscow by investigators.
The two women are suspected of apologizing for terrorism for a play written by Ms. Petriïtchouk and directed by Ms. Berkovitch in 2020. The prosecutions against them caused a shock in the world of theater in Russia. The piece in question, “Finist is a valiant falcon”, played entirely by women, told the story of Russians recruited on the internet by Islamists in Syria and leaving to join them to marry them. Hailed by critics, she had received two “Golden Masks” in 2022, the main theater award in Russia.
A petition calling for their release and proclaiming their innocence, launched by the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta, has already been signed by more than 3,000 people.
Statement against the war in Ukraine
Last year, Evguénia Berkovitch, mother of two minor children, had published verses against the offensive in Ukraine which had been “widespread”, underlines the text accompanying this petition. One of his poems, posted in May 2022 on Facebook, evoked the plight of civilians in the Ukrainian cities of Mariupol, Boutcha, Lyssytchansk and Borodianka, ravaged by the Russian assault.
Since the offensive of February 24, 2022, the Russian authorities have accelerated the repression of all forms of dissent in Russia, with thousands of fines and heavy prison sentences.
In the cultural world, artists critical of Vladimir Putin have also been prosecuted, dismissed or forced into exile.
They blame it on your show as it fights terrorism
Evguénia Berkovitch is a former student and collaborator of Kirill Serebrennikov, director and director, now in exile in Germany, renowned for his works critical of Russian power mixing politics, religion and sexuality. “They still had to invent a bullshit: “Apology for terrorism”. They blame it on your show as it fights terrorism and screams in pain at it“, reacted Friday on Telegram Kirill Serebrennikov. “You are fabulous, the best, you are unique“, he added. “Forgive me for having taught you not to lie and not to be afraid, for having taught you an honest theater, for having taught you to “say” and to “be”. (…) It is now considered a crime“.
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