Disk number 6

The first meeting in the case of Zhenya Berkovich and Svetlana Petriychuk lasted ten hours. Video of the performance of a military court did not want to watch

In the 2nd Western District Military Court in Lefortovo, on May 20, the director of Zhenya Berkovich and playwright Svetlana Petriychuk for the play and the play “Finist Yasny Falcon”, in which the prosecutor’s office saw “justification of terrorism” (Article 205.2 of the Criminal Code 2), began to be considered on May 20.

This is for the first time. Artists to judge for art in a military court. It was unbearable for a whole year to wait for this star immersion, and now it is cowardly scary to go to him - because there is no hope. The court must go on an unprecedentedly short time - in four days it is assigned to consider the case by which the investigation wrote the charge for a year.

I look at the radiating understanding and the acceptance of the light in a white T -shirt with a lighthouse, at Zhenya - in a jacket with an impeccable line of shoulder over the most delicate silk blouse, which shown the tongue on protocol shooting a minute ago ... And I think that the aquarium is large here, from there you can see how good they are not tormented (probably), and with what impenetrable, gold reserves. Naturalness, without bravado activists-heroes, without costness and fatigue, without extinct from the unwell and unbearable gaze, they stay after a year of life in captivity.

At that moment, somewhere in Cannes with a poster for Zhenya and the light stands Kirill Serebrennikov, for the year the play “The Finist ...” was translated into 13 languages ​​and read publicly 38 times, three times from afar, the premiere took place in Greece. The whole world for them, except for their homeland.

The bailiff warns that who will clap, scream - will not enter the hall. All this crowd, which had won from the regime and Monday, which was actually the “Seventh Studio”, accommodated the largest hall of the old -fashioned Petrovsky mansion with massive wooden curls on velor chairs. The just arrived mother of Zhenya Elena Efros is in the front row. “Conditions are more or less,” she says about the SIZO “Printers”.

Everyone is waiting for the start of the performance in the stuffy hall: a young, with a curious look, Judge Yuri Massin, who has not yet grown into these chairs (he is only a couple of times in this court); The secretary of the court in a jacket, as an unrecognized character from the film "Mim", hidden behind the monitor; The young state prosecutor Ekaterina Denisova, if not for the manicure of irrelevant acute shape and shoulder straps on a blue shirt, she could have been one of us - with curls, in glasses, a fit Muscovite, probably loves the theater.

Three defenders: Ksenia Karpinskaya, Svetlana Oreshnikova and Maria Kurakina (instead of lawyer Petriychuk Sergey Badamshin, who cannot be present until May 22).

In the “Aquarium” behind our three femids, the faces of the defendants are clearly visible in the gap formed by two iron beams - it seems that such a large plan in the cinema is called “American” when the face is cut off from above and below. I did not see that the political prisoners behaved so, as if this - fourth - there was no wall.

That is, it is not between the scene and the hall, but here it is, but the girls hold so that she is not between us. They are adults and equal to themselves, they do not need a crowd in front of the court, they have notebooks instead of smartphones and peace in their pockets, a teacher - Gremin and Ugarov, Nina Katerli, children and beloved, “love” and “masks” - everything, all gold. Therefore, they do not expect forbidden ovations on the aisle to the hall, and the bailiff-blonde Gubarev M.N. - Also a ready -made character Variet, who was fighting a year ago against the songs of Mikhail Krieger and Honored Ovasions, now only forbids to shoot on the phones and immediately exposes the journalist “New” Vorobyov, who changed the phone to the camera ... Zhenya and Sveta are slightly smiling among the listeners, but do not show anything and do not shout to those who gathered.

Zhenya answers when establishing a person that there are two minors and grandmother (left alone) 90-year-old. Petriychuk has parents and younger sister on dependent.

- The state of health?

- Hm. Satisfactory. (Zhenya)

- Are you ready for the meeting?

- Well, depends on what will happen. (Zhenya)

Indications are given - they will. Four witnesses leave the audience (oddly enough, accusations)-actresses and friends (funny Marietta Tsigal-Polishchuk with two saps on his head, runs the perimeter of the “aquarium” with his body, answering the judge, as if it were really a teaser of an immersive performance).

The defender Berkovich Oreshnikova declares (Karpinskaya supports) that by their recent application to terminate the criminal case, an application was not adopted with a characteristic of the personality of her client, which for some reason disappeared from the case file, and asks to introduce it.

Maria Kurakina shall submit the petition of lawyer Petriychuk Badamshin, who is absent from May 17 to 21, so that the interrogation of witnesses was carried out under him. On May 3, he notified the court of the impossibility of present today, but still began without him.

The prosecutor objects to photo and video recording in the process and against the introduction of the application. But Judge Massin introduces. Berkovich’s lawyers agree that when the personal data is announced (discussion of health), adoptive children will be asked to leave the hall.

And then the prosecutor Denisov begins to read out the indictment of a branded tongue twister - bombing faster than you can realize.

“Berkovich and Petriychuk are accused of the fact that they committed a public justification for terrorism and the propaganda of terrorism, committed using the telecommunication network, including the Internet, namely ... at the time that was not established by the investigation, no later than August 5, 2019, being in an unidentified investigation, at Petriychuk, which has ideological beliefs related to justification and propaganda terrorism, confessing the ideology of the forcibly impact on state authorities and governing bodies, to involve the population in other forms of unlawful actions, constitutional foundations, reliably knowing about the functioning of the Islamic state in the Syrian-Arab Republic, experiencing a sense of distorted religious unity, knowing the recognition of this organization of terrorist in the Russian Federation, a criminal occurred a criminal The intent aimed at public justification and propaganda of terrorism by writing a play containing signs of justification and propaganda of terrorism. ”

“Separating the extremely aggressive forms of the ideology of Islam,” “having formed a positive opinion for myself” about ISIS, she wrote “FINIST YASAS SOOL” with signs of justification of terrorism. Then she turned to an unidentified person not aware of the criminal intent to spread the play at the Lyubimovka festival, including through online broadcasting. On August 5, 2019, the text of the play appeared on the site "Lyubimovka".

Evgenia Berkovich read, and she also had a criminal thought for “public statements on recognizing the ideology of Islamic terrorism correct, in need of support and imitation, as well as the spread of materials and information aimed at the formation of a person of terrorism ideology, conviction of its attractiveness and the permissibility of the implementation of terrorist activity.”

Further, no later than September 2019, she in the “inside” space suggested that Petriychuk put a performance. So, according to the investigation, they entered into a preliminary criminal conspiracy to put the play on various sites in front of an unlimited number of persons, as well as publish a play and video recording of the play on the network - “developed a criminal plan of a public crime”.

“The criminal role of Petriychuk was to provide the text of the play by actresses, the exercise of control at rehearsals for the correct pronunciation and the sequence of execution by actresses of the text of the play.” “The criminal role of Berkovich was the selection of actresses and technical personnel to staging a play, finding a platform for rehearsing the performance, providing the process, monitoring the spread of publications about the play.” So, realizing the crime of the plan, they created the theater company “Soso’s daughter” (from unprecedented persons) no later than October 19, 2019 and showed the play at different venues in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg (“They made an unidentified way”) from the 20th to the 22nd year. And at the same time they were “under the influence of the ideology of the Islamic state*”, as follows from the quotes of the accusation of the same destructive examination. In the fall of 2019, an unidentified person recorded a play on the video, which was then posted on the channel of the Lyubimovka festival on YouTube. The play “Finist Yasny Sokol” contains an excuse for terrorist activity under the guise (according to expert number 686 of November 24, 23) religious ideology promoted by radical Islamic organizations of the jihadist direction ... ” - and all in this spirit.

“Thus,” the prosecutor Denisov ends the charge, “Berkovich and Petriychuk committed a crime at 205.3, part 2.”

It seems that it is difficult for everyone to gather his thoughts after hearing, and Zhenya is already responsible for the notes in the notebook:

“Your honor, I do not understand the question of the question. The meaning of the words is understandable, I know the Russian language quite well and I can read it on it, but it is not clear how this set of words has directly to me.

Firstly, I heard “Berkovich Evgeny Borisovna, who has ideological beliefs associated with the justification of terrorism, and then ... Berkovich EB, sharing the extremely aggressive forms of Islam, professing the ideology of violent influence on state authorities, local self-government, and so on, through participation in illegal armed gangs in illegal terrorist organizations and so on ... experiencing feelings of distorted religious unity ... and its participants ... ”I want to say that neither in 2019, nor earlier, nor later, I did not share the extremely aggressive forms of Islam, did not feel feelings of religious unity with its leaders and participants, did not have ideological and religious beliefs, at least somehow related to the justification of terrorism. Moreover, I never shared any “forms of Islam”, no radical, no. I feel respect for the peaceful law -abiding representatives of Islam, as well as any representatives of different religious, ethnic, national groups. To the terrorists, no matter what ideas they are covered, I have nothing but condemnation and disgust.

That is, according to the investigator, I was at least from 2019 to 2020 not just a Muslim, but also a radical one. There is no need to be a specialist in Islam to know: there is no religious Muslim woman in nature that would not observe the rules in wearing clothes, food and lifestyle. I never wore a hijab. I am in a secular marriage with a non -religious man and a citizen of the Russian Federation. I eat pork, take pictures on the beach. When I moved to Moscow in 2008, I entered the theater institute, I led a completely transparent life. I was in sight of dozens, hundreds of people, including not the most friendly, this is the peculiarity of creative people. This does not happen - to be unnoticed by the Islamist. The laws by which a secular woman lives, which is all the more Orthodox Christian in my case, confesses and communes, does not allow her to be a Muslim. It is impossible to be an Islamist with all the above.

I do not cover the heads of my children, although by age they would have to wear a scarf if they lived in the Muslim tradition. I personally testified four times to the investigator: as a witness and the accused. The investigation, in principle, was never interested in any of my religious beliefs.

In addition, on May 4, 2023, a search was carried out in my apartment in my presence. Nothing was discovered there that could indicate my connection with radical Islam.

I am sure that this formulation appeared in the case file only because the investigation, in the end, is needed some kind of motive, and therefore at the last moment, before transferring the case to court without finding any other evidence, they simply mechanically inserted this formulation for other cases, believing that it would “do so”. I hope it will not do. Many strange formulations and inconsistencies in the text of the prosecution. ( It gives an example of causal confusion with dates in two places on one page, there are many more examples. - N. S. ). All this suggests that the investigation did not even try to show elementary logic and figure out what to “show the performance” and “put the performance”.

... I understand that everyone at school took part in theatrical scenes. The investigation has been conducted for more than a year, we have been in prison, and during this time not to understand any word or technology, how my performance is made - this means simply issuing low -quality material on the principle of “and it will do so”. Do not establish the date of the only open show at the most difficult huge regional festival in Yekaterinburg (“We did not hide anywhere, did not hide”). We do not have a google, but the investigation has - what kind of “unidentified time”?

According to the prosecution, an important part of my criminal role is not just calls for terrorist activities, but distribution using telecommunication networks, etc. I personally never published anything anywhere, I did not convey anything with the aim of placing them. Moreover, the unidentified person published a video of the performance after our arrest. This is an unfounded accusation. I staged a performance to prevent terrorism. He turned out so. And we also have no damage, there is no corpus delicti. I think this document is illegal. ”

Judge: "Do you find yourself guilty?"

Zhenya: "I do not admit."

The defenders of Karpinskaya and Oreshnikova agree: "The accusation is illegally, not justified, not based on the case file, is the speculation of the investigation."

Judge - Petriychuk: "Do you understand the accusation?"

Sveta: “Your honor, it’s difficult for me to operate here with the word“ understandable ”, I will add one sentence about the peculiarity of our business to the words of Eugenia. I’m not a specialist, but it seems to me that Islamic radicals would least of all use the modern theater to promote their ideas, they generally prohibit this type of art. Therefore, this is a template of someone's bad mind. There is no justification for terrorism in the play. I don’t admit myself guilty. ”

Next, the prosecutor proposes to explore written evidence - seven volumes of the case (the eighth volume was consisting of one certificate). The defenders are surprised: why don't we see the record of the performance? Here he is, on the disk number six. But the court did not have a desire.

The meeting on May 20 lasted 10 hours, during this time the tongue twister was announced by documents of seven volumes - two famous examinations, searches and descriptions of the performance site, similar to the instructions for the Internet. Two witnesses were interrogated. And at the request of the Karpinsky interrogation of the rest of the called witnesses - the actresses of the performance were postponed at 10 in the morning of the morning, May 21.

The judge demonstratively expressed the concern that the girls did not have time to dine - as if he did not know that for the assembly to the court the rise at five in the morning, before breakfast, in the cell the defendants would be at best at the night of the morning. He said that they must demand compliance with their rights.

In the comments after the court, the Karpinskaya lawyer expressed surprise that for the entire long judicial day “we did not hear a single quote from the“ criminal “play” and, instead of watching the record of the performance, were busy reading the “creativity” of investigators and operatives. Her colleague complained that this is the choice of the prosecutor - how to present the case file in court.

* Recognized by the court with a terrorist organization, prohibited in the Russian Federation.