Kirill Serebrennikov is charged

Today, August 22, the Main Directorate for the Investigation of Particularly important cases of the Investigative Committee of Russia (SK) charged the director of the Gogol Center Theater Kirill Serebrennikov.

According to Interfax with reference to the official representative of the UK Svetlana Petrenko, the charge to the director, previously detained in St. Petersburg and delivered to Moscow, was brought under Part 4 of Art. 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Fraud on an especially large scale").

She noted that Serebrennikov was accused of organizing theft at least 68 million rubles allocated in 2011-2014 for the implementation of the Platform project. According to Petrenko, the director did not admit his guilt at interrogation.

On May 23, Serebrennikov and Gogol Center were searches in the case of the theft of budget funds in the Seventh Studio created by him. In the case of the Seventh Studio, its former leadership employees - General Director Yuri Itin, general producer Alexei Malobrodsky and chief accountant Nina Maslyaeva are held. On August 10, the Moscow City Court read out its testimony , according to which Serebrennikov participated in the embezzlement of budget funds.

Today, the source of Interfax , familiar with the case file, said that the basis for the initiation of a criminal case against Serebrennikov was the testimony of Maslyaeva and the accounting officer of the Seventh Studio Tatyana Zhirikova.

In support of Serebrennikov, Malobrodsky and other defendants in the case of the Seventh Studio, many cultural figures, including Chulpan Khamatova , Vladimir Urin , Evgeny Mironov ,Isabelle Jupper , the Association of Free Critics , a group of French directors, actors and theatrical figures, performed .

On the Change.org website there is a collection of signatures under the appeal demanding to stop the criminal prosecution of Kirill Serebrennikov.

PS The preventive measure for Kirill Serebrennikov will be determined tomorrow in the Basmann District Court of Moscow, the beginning of the meeting at 12:00. Journalist Katerina Gordeeva and Gogol-Center spokesman Daria Alenin called for everyone who is indifferent to the director’s fate.