The lawsuits against famous Russian artists have caused a shock in the Russian theater world. A petition, calling for their release, has already gathered more than 5,000 signatures.
A Russian court placed, on Friday May 5, in pre-trial detention Evguénia Berkovitch and Svetlana Petriïtchouk, two artists accused of apologizing for terrorism for one of their plays, in full repression of dissident voices in Russia since the military offensive in Ukraine.
The two women are suspected of apologizing for terrorism for a play written by Svetlana Petriïtchouk and directed by Evguénia Berkovitch in 2020. The prosecutions against them caused a shock in the world of theater in Russia.
Evguénia Berkovitch, 38, and Svetlana Petriïtchouk, 43, who face up to seven years in prison, have been detained until July 4, said the Zamoskvoretski court in Moscow, quoted by Russian news agencies. They had been arrested and interrogated in Moscow by investigators the day before their detention.
Against the war in Ukraine
The room for which they are imprisoned, Finist is a valiant hawk, 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 to their release and claiming their innocence, launched by the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta, has already been signed by more than 5,000 people. Among them, the editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta and 2021 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Dmitri Muratov, who published a video (link in Russian) to support the two artists and encouraged them to sign the open letter.
Last year, Evgenia Berkovitch, mother of two minor children, 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.
Support from filmmaker Kirill Serebrennikov
In the cultural world, artists critical of Vladimir Putin have also been prosecuted, dismissed or forced into exile. Evguénia Berkovitch is a former student and collaborator of Kirill Serebrennikov, director and director, now in exile in Germany, renowned for his critical works of Russian power mixing politics, religion and sexuality.
“They still had to make up some bullshit: ‘Apology of terrorism’. They blame it on your show as it fights terrorism and cries out 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.”