Train to the Femidovka station

In the Meshchansky court, the process in the “theater affairs” began - one of the most high -profiles in modern Russia

The process in the case of Sophia Apfelbaum, Yuri Itin, Alexei Malobrodsky and Kirill Serebrennikov began today in the philistine court. The conditions in which he passes, in a literal and figurative sense, airless. There is nothing to breathe in the tightly closed hall. The bailiffs, journalists, “fans”, accused, lawyers and even prosecutors, by the end of the first meeting, by three o’clock in the afternoon, as people complained to the corridor of the fourth floor, completely repaired. And this is not funny. Severe stuffiness, combined with the champion in a quiet voice of Judge Irina, was accurately deprived of the strength of those who came to support and protect the truth in this for a long time, rather, a historical event of our days.

Already at nine in the morning, civil society stood in a long queue at the entrance to the court. Among the countless persons are Ksenia Rappoport, Lyudmila Ulitskaya, Zoya Svetova, Alexey Bartoshevich, Alexey Borodin, Anatoly Bely, Alexander Manotskov.

... One of the most obscene moments of the process is chattering cameras at the beginning: in this permitted judicial shoot there is something from the feast of vultures. The defendants sit with their backs to the hall: but even on the shoulders you can see how awkward they are. Most of the unceremonious lenses are aimed at Serebrennikov. However, on the back of the Black T -shirt Serebrennikov, a coarsely written in burning.

The prosecutor begins to read the prosecution. Reads for almost two hours. He begins loudly and clearly, but after an hour his voice sits down, after another fifteen minutes it falls almost to a whisper. The lion's share of the charges is a list of banking transactions. The main thing in it is an equal sign between cashing of money and their prediction. And also - from the paragraph to the paragraph, the repeated formulations: “Mercantitry aimed at personal enrichment, by deception and abuse”, “decided to create a united organized group”, and - undoubtedly, under the influence of the theatrical context, “distributed criminal roles with each other for personal enrichment.”

The main logic of the accusation is simple: they overstated the cost of events, giving “obviously incorrect information”, and the freed funds were divided among themselves.

Every now and then the surnames of people who are not aware of the criminal nature of what is happening, ”the feeling that the criminal group was surrounded by a company of infants, including, for example, employees of the Ministry of Culture Shalashov and Makhmutov, which innocently“ performed the instructions of the Apfelbaum ”.

In the criminal group, they only did that they followed Serebrennikov’s instructions in the amount of 300 thousand to 10 million. The chief accountant Nina Maslyaeva, whose case is allocated for the help of the investigation in a separate production, occupies a roadside place in this transfer. In the foreground - everyone else.

Sophia Apfelbaum, confidently, was occupied solely by the fact that she created “pre -emptive conditions for the ANO“ Seventh Studio ”,“ I misleads my actions ”, committed intentional and focused actions.

Czech of numbers, surnames, endless list of transactions on transfer and cashing: transfers, contracts, numbers. Greenfieldbank, Bank of Moscow, Lanta Bank. The state of most of those present is already fully characterized by the phrase from his favorite work: “D'Artagnan felt dummy” ...

Finally, the final intonations arise in the monotonous muttering of the prosecutor: 133 million is stolen, according to the prosecution.

But the list of atrocities with a huge number of numbers does not look convincing. It does not have a base - the cost of everything that was created on the "platform". There is no key - the difference in the value of the state -allegedly created and allegedly taken from the pocket of the state. There are no numbers of the cost of projects, wages, fees. There is no evidence of overestimation of value, that is, fraud. Finally, the claim of the plaintiff, the Ministry of Culture, was not materialized: what exactly he did not have enough in the project, who for the time being considered his beloved brainchild.

And Sofya Apfelbaum to the question of the judge, whether she understands the essence of the accusations, answers loudly and firmly:

- No, not clear!

- It is not clear to you what you are accused of?

- It is not clear to me who and when I deceived, with whom I entered into a conspiracy. I do not consider myself guilty, I did not abduct any means. The decision to support the project was not made by me.

The decision on the size of the subsidy was not made by me, everything that I did, I did as part of the job descriptions, the technical specifications corresponded to the competitive documentation. Shalashov, my boss, specialist and practitioner, is impossible to mislead him. The documents were tested in the theater art department. I acted in the same way as those who worked before me and after me.

All participants in the process react. Do not accept accusations and deny their guilt.

Here, not everyone is visible, but an obvious turn in a procedural plot. The accused are evidenced at first, before the study of the investigation materials.

The first to get up Serebrennikov. The interrogation begins protection. Lawyer Dmitry Kharitonov in detail finds out everything about the Platform project: the essence of the idea and the history of its embodiment, the emergence of ANO “Seventh Studio”, and the distribution of functions. It turns out from the answers: to move the project and “not lose the season”, Serebrennikov and Itin, the artistic director and director, introduced one and a half million of their own money to begin with. The first budget funds were received in March next year.

- We had to start a program without money of the Ministry of Culture. It was necessary to form a theater from scratch that would produce 10 premieres per month.

The ministry’s money was late all the time, and we were looking for a way to release performances. We had only an empty workshop, it was necessary to make light, costume, spectator amphitheater and everything else.

On the cheek of the prosecutor, as in the cinema, the nodules go.

- ... I never gave any instructions of Maslyaeva. I did not control her activity at all.

We met Sofia Mikhailovna Apfelbaum at the first meeting at the Ministry of Project. Then she often came to our events.

- Was there a constant composition of artists?

- Yes, sure! They played, rehearsed, worked in other events.

- What are the names ...

I did not have time to list all Serebrennikov.

The judge “broke” in the first third of his testimony. On the list of artists who were a “constant composition” of the Platform project. At that moment, a slurred rustle rang out from the judges of the judge, and a rustle of beaming in half with relief swept around the hall. The meeting was postponed to tomorrow (November 8) morning.

PS

This business has already greatly changed the atmosphere of cultural Russia. And he will change on. Lawyers predict the deadlines for six months. Who predicts the nature of public changes?