‘Should I write a speech and sing it in Buryat?’

Director Zhenya Berkovich addresses the court

Zamoskvoretski District Court judge Larisa Semyonova extended the arrest term of director Zhenya Berkovich and playwright Svetlana Petriychuk until March 10. They are accused of “justifying terrorism” because of the play “Finist the Bright Falcon.” Berkovich and Petriychuk have been in pre-trial detention since May 2023. At the court session on January 9, they addressed the judge, and Berkovich did so in verse. Mediazona has published the text of her speech. With Mediazona’s permission, Meduza in English has translated it in full.

Your Honor, as you’ve heard today, our criminal case was opened nine months ago, eight of which we’ve been in prison. And, if I’m counting correctly, along with the appeals, today is the eighth time that we’ve been in court to discuss the issue of whether or not to adjust the custody arrangement.

And every time, in every ruling, there’s a phrase that absolutely fascinates me. It sounds something like this: the court sees no reason to change the custody arrangement, because the circumstances under which it was chosen have not changed.

Your Honor,

I have to state

It is indeed true,

There's nothing to debate,

And our arguments, really, are always familiar.

Because every time we hear from those investigating

We get the same formal phrases.

And, naturally, we reply with the same old thing.

It just keeps going and going.

I don’t know what to do or how to fight.

Should I write a speech and sing it in Buryat?

Would selling ads in it be right?

Every time Sveta and I are brought this way,

We hope. But we are kept at bay.

As citizens, we await our hour of trial.

But every time it's Groundhog Day.

One answer to one question.

We give it, on video or in person.

About a flight risk that doesn't exist.

Imaginary witness coercion.

And that I don’t run away with an anklet.

I'm in this drama until the end.

And I can't continue my criminal endeavors,

Because they’re all pretend.

I'm under investigation in Russia.

And I can’t escape, no matter my desire

I still have two sick children,

Whose childhood will again expire.

16 years in orphanages. That makes two.

Finally: home, safety, mom.

Can we not torture me, and not torture them too?

Really, just not torturing is enough.

I still have the same place in Moscow.

The same registration, the address is easy to remember.

Except for grandmothers. Before there were two.

Now there’s only one. She’ll be ninety in a month. (I hope).

The investigation unable to expose,

Anything. Despite resources and opportunity.

And no hurry to close

A case of particular complexity.

The case is dead. Over. Its song sung.

It can't be saved by forensics, interrogation, word of mouth.

In nine months, you could have borne a new expert young.

He would have come out quite ready.

Can we stop with the public flogging already?

We're not in the '80s, and this is not parliament.

The difference between an investigation and a showdown is,

To prove, not to punish.

The investigation was so easily made.

Convenient. It doesn't move, we go on sitting.

A strategy for heroes not easily slayed.

If there’s no enemy on the field, you go on unremitting.

Your Honor, we didn't choose this way.

And it's not a comfortable road.

You see, when the essence is unchanged,

The artist is left to carry their load.

And the essence won't change. There can't be a different essence.

That's what any kid will say, no matter whose.

As citizens, we count on fair judges.

And it's a little early for executioner crews.

But I still believe that you’re not one of them.

That this is a serious and honest choice for you, too.

And if you're doing it for a reason,

We can still expect surprises.

I'll finish up, I don't have four volumes.

Unfortunately, I don't even have two notebooks.

But if there's no hope for word choice,

We can only rely on word order.

Finally, we rang in the New Year.

The dragon arrived. Not a spider, not a worm, not a dumb fish.

Miracle and the law, I ask you to remember here.

They're almost synonymous. That’s it. Thank you.