The investigation calls for the arrest of director Zhenya Berkovich and playwright Svetlana Petriychuk, accused of justifying terrorism in connection with the theatrical production of Finist the Clear Sokol. It is reported by Mediazona.
Berkovich and Petriychuk were arrested the day before. The court as a repressive measure is in Moscow. About 100 people gathered near the Zamoskvoretsky District Court building.
During the trial, the defense presented guarantees for Berkovich, which were signed by directors and actors Konstantin Raikin, Adolf Shapiro, Veniamin Smekhov, Henrietta Yanovskaya, Boris Milgram, journalist Ksenia Sobchak, founder of the Vera Charitable Hospice Fund Nyuta Federmesser and others.
Berkovich and Petriychuk were arrested the day before after being questioned by the Investigative Committee. The homes of Berkovich’s relatives in St. Petersburg were raided.
The show “Finist Yasny Sokol” was staged in Moscow three years ago, in 2022 he received two “Golden Masks”. The production is based on the stories of women who married radical Islamists.
Novaya Gazeta published a petition supporting Berkovich and Petriychuk. “We are against the fact that directors, playwrights, artists, whatever they are, are arrested in the 21st century for a performance. We are against accusatory lies: in the work of director Yevgenia Berkovich and playwright Svetlana Petriychuk there is not a shadow of a justification for terrorism; the play and performance Finist the Bright Falcon carries an absolutely intelligible anti-terrorism appeal,” the petition read. There is also mention of Berkovich’s anti-war verses. “We are against terrorism and its justification, including from misunderstood state opportunism. Prosecute murderers, not poets!” the petition reads.
A law enforcement petition against Zhenya Berkovich was filed two years ago by activists from the pro-Kremlin NOD movement, reports Edition “Dash”. Then, in May 2021, they complained about his play “Finiste Yasny Sokol”, calling the production “anti-Russian” and seeing it as “a threat to the security of Russia”.
A review in the case of justification of terrorism because of the play Finist the Clear Falcon was led by Roman Silantiev, a supporter of the war in Ukraine, who calls himself a religious scholar. This is reported by the “First Department”. According to the lawyers, a criminal case regarding the piece was opened on April 10. The Investigative Committee announced an examination, according to the results of which experts found signs justifying terrorism in the room. The author of the review, Silantiev, in particular, believes that “neopaganism of a satanic nature” has become the main religion in Ukraine. He calls his method “destructology,” describing it as a new applied science that “comprehensively considers extremist and terrorist organizations, psychocults, and non-religious sects; totalitarian sects and the sphere of magical services; suicidal games and pastimes, deadly youth subcultures (Columbine, AUE, etc.) and medical dissent,” writeJ “Mediazone”.
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