Russian artist Berkovitch, kept in detention, defends himself from any "apology for terrorism"

A Russian court on Tuesday remanded in custody the director Evguénia Berkovitch and the author Svetlana Petriïtchouk, who risk seven years in prison, in a case emblematic of the repression of critical artists in Russia. The two women were arrested in Moscow in early May and charged with “apology for terrorism” for a play written by Svetlana Petriïtchouk and directed by Evguénia Berkovitch in 2020. The Moscow City Court on Tuesday confirmed their detention on appeal. provisional until the beginning of July.

The two women were arrested in Moscow in early May. Accused of "apology for terrorism" for a play written by the writer and directed by Evguénia Berkovitch in 2020, the two women risk seven years in prison.

The play in question, Finist is a valiant falcon, awarded in Russia and 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.

During the hearing on Tuesday, Yevgenia Berkovitch stressed that this work had been supported by the Russian Ministry of Culture. “Do you think that the Ministry gave rubles to propagate terrorism? “, she launched, speaking by videoconference from her prison and quoted by the Mediazona site. The accusation is based on an expertise drawing a parallel between radical Islam and the supposed "radical feminism" of Yevgenia Berkovitch, indicated at the hearing Ksenia Karpinskaïa, her lawyer, also quoted by Mediazona, while denouncing an analysis "delusional".

In recent months, "radical feminism" has entered the lexicon of the Russian regime to denounce its opponents. “The expertise says that I am propaganda of radical feminism, which would argue that a woman should not raise children. Now, your honor, I want more than anything to take care of my children right now,” Yevgenia Berkovitch said on Tuesday. Mother of two adopted children, she had published several remarkable poems last year denouncing the offensive in Ukraine which, for her supporters, would be one of the real reasons for these prosecutions.

Since the offensive of February 24, 2022, the Russian authorities have accelerated the repression of all dissent, with thousands of fines and heavy prison sentences aimed pell-mell anonymously, activists and intellectuals.