The play, referred to as “Finist, The Courageous Falcon,” instructed the tales of the ISIS brides — Russian girls who traveled to Syria to marry members of the Islamic State terrorist group they’d met on-line. It was based mostly on actual case supplies from interrogations and court docket verdicts and didn’t catch destructive consideration from the regulation enforcement on the time.
The authors have repeatedly said that the play represents a cautionary story exploring what pushes Russian girls to covert to radical Islam. However through the trial, the state-appointed “knowledgeable witnesses” testified that the work incorporates “indicators of radical feminist ideology” and glorifies terrorists, making them seem “fascinating and engaging to women and girls” whereas discriminating in opposition to Russian males.
Throughout a listening to final 12 months, Berkovich mentioned the play envisioned “a quite simple and clear concept that dozens of girls in our time grow to be random victims of evil.”
The play obtained funding from the Russian Tradition Ministry and was awarded Russia’s high theater prize, referred to as the Golden Masks.
Since Russia started its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Berkovich has additionally written antiwar poems, which her supporters mentioned would be the purpose behind the persecution. Shortly after the beginning of the battle, she staged an antiwar demonstration and was jailed for 11 days.
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The protection plans to enchantment the decision, lawyer Ksenia Karpinskaya instructed Russia media after the trial. “We’ll, after all, enchantment this determination, though there may be little hope. However I would like you to know that these girls are completely harmless,” Karpinskaya mentioned.
Berkovich is elevating two adopted kids and has aged relations whom she fears she’ll by no means see once more, the lawyer added, based on Russian channel TV Rain.
“She mentioned that she would by no means see her grandmother once more as a result of she wouldn’t stay one other six years at 90. She won’t see her adopted kids; we don’t know what is going to occur to them tomorrow,” Karpinskaya mentioned. “And he or she most likely gained’t have the ability to give beginning to new kids due to her age. And each the decide and the prosecutor knew about all of this.”
The trial of Berkovich and Petriychuk marked the primary high-profile legal case regarding a play for the reason that Soviet period. It’s also a part of a sweeping marketing campaign of repression the Kremlin launched in opposition to any voices essential of the battle or President Vladimir Putin’s insurance policies.
Many artists who spoke out in opposition to the invasion have been fired from state-funded cultural establishments, together with theaters and movie studios, or blacklisted from performing within the nation, with authorities pressuring venue homeowners to revoke present permits. Those that have publicly supported the battle have loved profitable advert offers and options on state tv and have been favored by the Ministry of Tradition, which allocates funding for the nation’s largest inventive initiatives.
