Director Evgenia Berkovich and playwright Svetlana Petriychuk were each asked to serve six years in a general regime colony in the case of justifying terrorism in the play “Finist Yasnyi Sokol.” This was reported in the telegram channel of Berkovich's lawyers.
The debate yesterday took place behind closed doors, and the time period requested by the prosecution was not known. Defenders then declined to comment.
At the exit from the meeting, Berkovich showed the number six to journalists with her fingers — as it turned out, that was the number of years prosecutor Ekaterina Denisova requested for her.
In addition, the prosecutor's office demanded that both be prohibited from administering pages on the Internet for four years after their release.
Berkovich and Petriychuk are accused of justification of terrorismbecause of the play “Finist Yasny Falcon” about the fate of Russian women who marry Islamists and go to Syria. The examination found “signs of the ideology of radical feminism” in the play.
The court began considering the case in May — a year after the girls were placed in pre-trial detention. At the very first meeting it became known that the accusation was based on contradictory testimony of anonymous witnesses.
During the eighth hearing, a “concerned citizen” was interrogated in court, on the basis of whose testimony a report on the performance was drawn up by an employee of the “E” center. Judge Yuri Massin assigned the pseudonym “Nikita” to the witness; he was interrogated via audio link with voice distortion. “Nikita” himself asked to keep his identity secret due to concerns for his career and health, although he admitted that he had not received any threats.
On June 13, when the defense was supposed to present evidence, the judge, at the request of the prosecutor, closed the trial to the public. The reason was given as “threats to one of the participants in the process,” which were published on May 24.