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MOSCOW, July 8The Second Western District Military Court will today announce the verdict of director Evgenia Berkovich and playwright Svetlana Petriychuk in the case of justifying terrorism, said lawyer Sergei Badamshin.
“The announcement of the verdict is scheduled for today, at 18.30,” said lawyer Petriychuk. 
During the debate, the prosecutor asked the court to sentence the girls to 6 years in a general regime colony with deprivation of the right to administer Internet sites for a period of 4 years.
The hearings on the case were held closed to the public at the request of the state prosecutor, who stated that some participants in the process were receiving threats.
Earlier, a secret witness spoke in court and complained about the performance to law enforcement agencies. His details were not disclosed for security reasons; the court assigned him the pseudonym “Nikita.” He gave his testimony remotely using voice changing technology and did not answer questions that could lead to the disclosure of his identity. As the witness explained, he still works in the theater field and fears for his career and reputation.
According to investigators, Petriychuk prepared the script for the theatrical play “Finist the Clear Falcon,” which contains signs of justification and propaganda of terrorism. Berkovich and Petriychuk then staged the play together, publicly showing it at various festivals, in theaters, and also on the Internet. The play tells the story of women who decide to virtually marry adherents of radical Islam and go to join them in Syria. The performance, created, among other things, with money from the Ministry of Culture, received the Golden Mask theater award.
Berkovich and Petriychuk do not admit guilt. Both have been under arrest for more than a year, despite having dependent elderly relatives and, in Berkovich’s case, two adopted children with health problems and psychological characteristics.
* An individual included by Rosfinmonitoring in the list of extremists and terrorists 