The prosecutor requested 10 years of prison for director Ivan Vyrypaev

In the Basmanny Court of Moscow, the prosecutor requested 10 years of imprisonment for the famous director Ivan Vyrypaev. Ego is being judged on the article about the spread of so-called “fakes about the Russian army”. The trial is held in absentia: Vyrypaev does not live in Russia.

The criminal case about “fakes” against Vyrypaev was initiated in the spring of this year. In April, the court arrested him in absentia, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs announced a federal wanted list.

As reported by Sota, the director is charged with statements made in interviews with various media: “Ivan Vyrypaev. Putin will forever remain evil” on the Khodorkovsky LIVE channel, aired on the OVD-Info channel, “How will war change art” on the Chicago radio station NVC “Putin is not interesting to me as the hero of the play”, as well as publications on the playwright’s personal website. According to the state prosecution, all these materials contain false information about the Russian army.

The playwright’s lawyer, Vladimir Voronin, believes that Vyrypaev took the information from open sources. He asked the court to return the case to the prosecutor’s office.

Vyrypaev will be sentenced tomorrow, December 15.

• Ivan Vyrypaev is a theater and film director, playwright and producer, former art director of the Praktika Theater in Moscow. Winner of the “Triumph”, “Golden Mask”, “Nika” and “Kinotavr” awards. He spoke out against the persecuted director Kirill Serebrennikov, in support of Alexei Navalny, and after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he addressed an open letter to the Russian state theaters that stage his plays, in which he informed that he intended to transfer his author’s royalties to Ukraine aid funds.
• Articles about so-called fakes and the discrediting of the army appeared in the codes of Russia shortly after its invasion of Ukraine. Russian courts recognize as discrediting the report about the war in Ukraine, which Moscow calls a “special operation”, and any information different from the version of the Ministry of Defense of Russia is a fake.