Berkovich was brought from the pre-trial detention center to St. Petersburg to say goodbye to his grandmother

The director Evgenia Berkovich, arrested in the case of incitement to terrorism because of the performance she staged “Finist Yasnyi Sokol”, was brought from the Moscow pre-trial detention center to St. Petersburg to say goodbye to her grandmother, the writer Nina Katerly. Borys Vyshnevskyi, a deputy of the City Assembly, reported this.

Attorney Berkovich Ksenia Karpinskaya confirmed to “Mediazone” that her client was brought to St. Petersburg.

Nina Katerly died on November 20. After that, an open letter was published by more than 20 actors, directors and public figures, in which they asked the Commissioner for Human Rights in Russia, Tatiana Moskalkova, to change the restraining order against Berkovich and the playwright Svetlana Petriychuk, who was involved in the same case with her. “At least so that she could bury her grandmother,” said the letter about Berkovich.

“Before the farewell, only relatives were allowed into the hall, and Zhenya Berkovich was brought in, allowed to say goodbye to her grandmother and hug her mother, Elena Efros. Then, when Zhenya was taken away, they let the rest say goodbye,” Vyshnevsky wrote. The former editor-in-chief of “Echo of Moscow” Alexey Venediktov linked the fact that Berkovich was allowed to say goodbye to a relative, namely with an open letter. Ego was signed, in particular, by artists Veniamin Smekhov, Chulpan Khamatova, Danyla Kozlovsky, directors Yevgeny Mironov, Alexander Sokurov, Konstantin Raikin, writers Lyudmila Ulytskaya and Guzel Yakhina, Nobel laureate journalist Dmitry Muratov, TV presenter Ivan Urgant.

The authorities have not yet commented on the incident.

• A criminal case on the public justification of terrorism against Evgenia Berkovich and Svetlana Petriychuk was initiated in early May, and they have been in pretrial detention since the same month. The reason for the persecution was the play “Finist Yasny sokol”, staged by Berkovych based on the play by Petriychuk. The play tells about the fate of Russian women who married Islamic radicals and were subsequently recruited into the “Islamic State” movement, recognized as terrorist in many countries of the world, including Russia. The basis of the criminal case is the examination written by Roman Silantiev, who calls himself a destructologist. Silantiev considered that Wahhabism is supported in the play and performance. At the same time, the production, which has been running with great success since 2019, was twice awarded the main Russian theater award “Golden Mask” – for the best direction and the best work of the costume designer.
• Law enforcement officers also came to the 89-year-old grandmother Berkovych – Nina Katerly with a search on a catch case. On October 25, at a hearing in the Moscow City Court, the accused accused of justifying terrorism asked to change her restraining order, “as long as no one close to her dies.” The court refused Berkovich.