9 July 2024 at 12:10 Sentenced to six years in prison for theater Director Yevgenija Berkovitch (39) and playwright Svetlana Petrichchuk (44) are sentenced to six years in Russian prison because of a play, writes NTB. The play is about two Russian women who were lured into marrying IS fighters, and who were imprisoned when they returned to Russia, the BBC writes. It was staged in 2021, but although the play was staged three years ago, they were only apprehended in May last year. Director Berkovic has also written poems criticizing Russia’s war against Ukraine, and several of her supporters suspect that the arrest may be connected to this. The trial has taken place behind closed doors in a military court, and the argument for the arrest is that the play should have “justified terrorism”. The theater duo deny this themselves, saying they staged the play to prevent terrorism, that they are innocent, and will appeal the verdict – although they have little hope of winning, their defense attorney said outside the courtroom in Moscow yesterday, Monday, July 8. Also there was Dmitry Muratov, the former Novaya Gazeta editor and Nobel laureate. The arrest sent shockwaves through the artistic community, which has faced even stronger pressure from the authorities since Russia invaded Ukraine, and many artists have left the country since then. The trial has been seen as a test of where the line is for artistic freedom and freedom of expression in Russia today. The human rights organization Amnesty International says Berkovic and Petrichchuk have been arrested only for exercising their freedom of expression, and is asking for the release of the two. Sources: NTB and BBC
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