Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation: “destructological” examination in the case of Berkovich and Petriychuk cannot be evidence in court

The Russian Ministry of Justice reported that the “destructological” examination in the case of director Zhenya Berkovich and playwright Svetlana Petriychuk cannot act as evidence in court due to the unscientific nature of “destructology.” This was reported by Petriychuk’s lawyer Sergei Badamshin.

On June 14, Badamshin sent a request to the department regarding a “destructological” examination. The Russian Federal Center for Forensic Expertise under the Ministry of Justice responded that such an examination is not included in the list of forensic examinations performed in the department’s institutions.

Destructology is not a science, nor any field of technology, art or craft.

“For this category of cases, forensic linguistic or complex psychological and linguistic examinations are appointed and carried out. “Complex destructive” and other similar (with far-fetched names) examinations are not mentioned in these documents due to the lack of scientific validity,” the Ministry of Justice states in its response to the lawyer.

Berkovich and Petriychuk case

• on suspicion of “justifying terrorism.” were detained On May 4, in Moscow , the director of the play “Finist Yasnyi Sokol” Zhenya Berkovich and the author of the play Svetlana Petriychuk Berkovich's parents and grandmother were searched in St. Petersburg and their computers were seized.

• The documentary play “Finist Yasny Sokol” talks about women who “decided to virtually marry representatives of radical Islam and go to join them in Syria.”

• In 2022, the play received Russia's main theater award, the Golden Mask, in two categories: Drama/playwright's work and Drama/costume designer's work.

• A criminal case for “justification of terrorism” was opened against Berkovich and Petriychuk based on a denunciation from the far-right National Liberation Movement of Russia. According to the informer, the play allegedly “justifies terrorism and extremism” and “glorifies ISIS militants.” In their opinion, the performance “is a tool of information war against the security of Russia.”

• The examination of the case was carried out by the creator of pseudoscience called “destructology” Roman Silantiev. Thus, he claims that the main religion in Ukraine has become “neopaganism of a satanic nature.”