Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Russian Federation Mariana Katsarova. Russia: UN expert calls for acquittal of jailed theatre director and playwright Human Rights
UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Russian Federation Mariana Katsarova has called on the court to acquit theatre director Yevgeniya Berkovich and playwright Svetlana Petriychuk, who are currently serving six years in prison on charges of “justifying terrorism.”
The appeal was sent ahead of their case being heard by the Military Court of Appeals, scheduled for 25 December 2024.
“The criminal prosecution of Berkovich and Petriychuk is a direct attack on the right to freedom of expression and the role of culture in shaping critical dialogue. The Russian authorities should quash the sentence and acquit Berkovich and Petriychuk, given that their prosecution is part of an alarming pattern of persecution of anyone who condemns the war against Ukraine or expresses an opinion that differs from the official one,” Katsarova said.
In all likelihood, the real reason for the persecution was a series of poems by Yevgeniya Berkovich, in which she criticizes Russia’s war against Ukraine, the independent UN expert believes.
The charges brought against Berkovich and Petriychuk are based on their creative work in staging the play “Finist – Yasny Sokol”, which tells the story of Russian women who went to Syria to become wives of representatives of the Islamic State (ISIS). The play condemns terrorism through a critical understanding of the problems of extremist ideologies and their destructive consequences for individuals and society, the statement said. The criminal case was opened after one of the theater’s actors, Vladimir Karpuk, who later became a witness for the prosecution, condemned the play, citing the “inappropriateness of staging a play by an anti-war playwright”, Katsarova noted. Meanwhile, the play, which premiered in 2020, was awarded two Golden Mask theatre awards for best drama and best costumes.
“Cultural figures have the right to express their ideas through art, including controversial or politically sensitive works, without fear of consequences. Instead, the Russian authorities use censorship, dismissals, imprisonment and torture, including rape and sexual violence, against poets, artists, actors, writers and other cultural figures for expressing their dissent with the war against Ukraine,” the Special Rapporteur emphasized.
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Earlier, in her report to the Human Rights Council and subsequent report to the General Assembly, she provided documentary evidence of the ongoing suppression of dissent, including the abuse of the judicial system and national security laws to silence artists and cultural figures since the full-scale invasion in February 2022.