The court extended the arrest of director Berkovich and screenwriter Petriychuk, accused of calls for terrorism due to the play “Finist Yasny Falcon”

The Khamovnichesky District Court of Moscow extended until November 4 the arrest of director Evgenia Berkovich and screenwriter Svetlana Petriychuk, against whom a case was opened for calls for terrorism (Part 2 of Article 205.2 of the Criminal Code) because of the play “Finist Yasny Falcon”. This was reported by a Mediazona correspondent.

Investigator Dmitry Poleshchuk insisted on extending the arrest, since, in his opinion, Berkovich and Petriychuk could escape or influence witnesses.

The defense asked to release Berkovich from the pre-trial detention center because she has adopted daughters in her care. Experts came to the conclusion that the arrest of the director negatively affects their health. In addition, Berkovich’s dependents are two grandmothers born in 1934.

At the meeting, lawyer Berkovich also read out the names of people who vouched for her and Petriychuk. Among them are actors Oleg Menshikov and Konstantin Raikin, as well as TV presenter Ksenia Sobchak.

Berkovich and Petriychuk have been in pretrial detention since May. An examination of their case was carried out by the creator of “destructology” Roman Silantiev. He discovered in the play “Finist Yasny Falcon” “signs of the ideology of radical feminism and the fight against the androcentric social structure of Russia.”

In July, Berkovich’s lawyer Ksenia Karpinskaya reported that a new examination had been ordered in the case.

The heroines of the play “Finist Yasny Falcon” are women from Russia who met Islamists and went to join them in Syria. The production was released in 2021 and received two Golden Masks. At the same time, the pro-government publication National Course called it “anti-Russian.”