A Russian court has sentenced a playwright and a theater director to six years in prison for “justifying terrorism” through the production of a play about Russian women marrying Islamic State fighters. The ruling on Monday is the latest in a crackdown on dissent and artistic freedom since Russia sent its troops into Ukraine.
Zhenya Berkovich, an independent theater director, and Svetlana Petriychuk, a playwright, have denied the terrorism charges.
“I staged the performance to prevent terrorism,” Berkovich said during the trial. “I have nothing but condemnation and disgust” toward terrorism, she said.
The women’s lawyers, according to The Associated Press, said in court hearings before the start of the trial that the play, “Finist, the Brave Falcon,” was supported by the Russian Culture Ministry and won the Golden Mask, Russia’s top theater prize.
The lawyers also told the court that a reading of the play, staged at a women’s prison in Siberia in 2019, received a favorable review from Russia’s state penitentiary service.
During a court session last year, Berkovich said the play has "a very simple and transparent idea that dozens of women in our time become, I emphasize, random victims of evil," according to a Moscow Times report. "Understanding and justifying why this happens are two different things," she said.
A lawyer for the women, Ksenia Karpinskaya, said they plan to appeal the verdict.
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
