Judge of the 2nd Western District Military Court Yuri Massin sentenced Evgenia Berkovich and Svetlana Petriychuk to six years in a general regime colony in the case of justifying terrorism (Part 2 of Article 205.2 of the Criminal Code). This was reported by a Mediazona correspondent from the courtroom.
In addition, after serving their sentences, both of them are prohibited from administering Internet pages for three years. The time spent in a pre-trial detention center is counted day by day.
Prosecutor Ekaterina Denisova asked that the defendants in the case be sentenced to six years in a general regime colony.
The case of “Finist” in a military court. Verdict
The case was opened more than a year ago because of the play “Finist Yasny Falcon” about Russian women who decided to marry Islamists and go to Syria. All this time, the defendants in the case have been in pre-trial detention.
The court has been considering the case of Evgenia Berkovich and Svetlana Petriychuk since May 20. At the first hearing, it became clear that the accusation was based on contradictory testimony from anonymous witnesses. Moreover, almost all the witnesses — both from the prosecution and from the defense — testified in favor of Berkovich and Petriychuk.
There were only three real witnesses on the prosecution's side: an employee of the «E» center, who accused ISIS of committing the terrorist attack at «Crocus», although the Russian authorities claimed that Ukraine was behind the attack; actor Vladimir Karpuk, who disrupted the performance in 2022, who called the performance «Russophobic» and «destructive» for the «patriarchal» Russian state; and a secret witness under the pseudonym «Nikita», who claimed that he secretly filmed the performance on his phone and took it to Petrovka, 38.
“Nikita” insisted that it was necessary to maintain his anonymity, since he works “in a theatrical environment” and fears not only for his career, but also for his health and safety. At the same time, answering questions from his lawyers, he was forced to admit that he had not received any threats.
At the very next meeting — June 13 — the state prosecutor said that she had found comments containing threats to the participants in the trial dated back to May 24. After this, Judge Yuri Massin closed the trial from the press and listeners.
Already behind closed doors, the court questioned the last defense witnesses, as well as the accused themselves. The interrogation of Evgenia Berkovich and Svetlana Petriychuk lasted nine hours.
On July 4, prosecutor Ekaterina Denisova took the floor and requested a deadline for Berkovich and Petriychuk. Immediately after the meeting, the lawyers refused to tell the details to journalists in order to first “prepare the relatives.” But as she left the hall, Evgenia Berkovich pointed the number six at the cameras. The next day, the lawyers confirmed that this was exactly the amount they had requested for both defendants.