Cultural figures require the release of Malobrodsky

Musician Andrei Makarevich, film director Alexander Sokurov, Echo of Moscow Echo of Moscow, Alexei Venediktov and 35 more cultural figures and journalists, signed an open letter demanding to release the ex-producer of the Seventh Studio, Alexei Malobrodsky. The appeal is published on the website "Echo of Moscow".

The authors of the letter consider accusations against Malobrodsky absurd. According to them, there are no "legal grounds, no practical meaning in the content of Alexei Malobrodsky in custody." It is possible to put a person under arrest only “if it is impossible to apply a different preventive measure,” the letter says.

Malobrodsky, the appeal says, promised to cooperate with the investigation and give true testimonies and, in addition, he had illegally spent a month in jail without initiating a criminal case.

The signing appeal expresses the hope that the Moscow City Court will soften the Malobrodsky preventive measure.

“We believe that Alexei Malobrodsky should be released from custody during the investigation. The extreme measure in this case is excessive, cruel and unjustified,” concluded the signatories.

The appeal was joined, in particular, the conductor Theodor Krentzis, directors Pavel Lungin, Boris Yukhananov, Joseph Raichelgauz, Evgeny Pisarev, Sergey Zhenovach, Yuri Butusov, Harry Bardin, actress Chulpan Khamatova, Oksana Fander, Julia Auger, Yuri Norshtein, writers Vladimir Sorokin, writers. Lyudmila Ulitskaya, Lyudmila Petrushevskaya, Victor Erofeev, TV presenter Vladimir Pozner.

On July 18, the judge of the Basmanny District Court of Moscow Natalya Dudar extended the arrest of Less Brodsky until October 19 . The representative of the prosecutor’s office and lawyers of the suspect at the meeting announced the illegality of the election of such a preventive measure, since the case against Malobrodsky was openly retroactively on the same day. For the same period, householding of the Seventh Studio was extended to the ex-General Director of Yuri Itina and finding in jail former chief accountant Nina Maslyaeva.

On June 19, Malobrodsky was detained after interrogation in the capital's head of the TFR. He was called there as a witness in the case of theft from the "seventh studio" director Kirill Serebrennikov.

On June 21, the judge of the Presnensky District Court of Moscow Tatyana Vasyuchenko arrested Malobrodsky for a period until July 19. It was reported that he was charged under part 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code (fraud on an especially large amount committed by a group of persons), which provides for up to 10 years of the colony. According to the plot of the case, Malobrodsky, together with Itin and Maslyaeva, which were involved in the case earlier, in 2012 stole 2.33 million rubles allocated from the budget for staging the play "Sleep on a summer night." As a result, the investigator said, the performance was not staged.

In court, Malobrodsky objected that in reality the “Summer on a Summer Night” has been on stage for five years and this is confirmed in particular in the media reviews.