Director Evgenia Berkovich was released from pre-trial detention center for her grandmother’s funeral – Kommersant

Director Evgenia Berkovich, arrested under the article about justifying terrorism, was released from the pre-trial detention center accompanied by an escort to the funeral of her grandmother Nina Katerli, who died five days ago. The ex-editor-in-chief of Echo of Moscow Alexey Venediktov (recognized as a foreign agent) and deputy of the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly Boris Vishnevsky spoke about this.

“We said goodbye to Nina Semyonovna Katerli. Before saying goodbye, only relatives were allowed into the hall and Zhenya Berkovich was brought, they were allowed to say goodbye to their grandmother and hug their mother Elena Efros. Then, when Zhenya was taken away, they let the others say goodbye,” Boris Vishnevsky wrote on Facebook (belongs to Meta, which is recognized as extremist and banned).

As the director’s lawyer Ksenia Karpinskaya told RBC, until recently it was unknown whether Evgenia Berkovich would be brought to the farewell party or not.

The death of writer and publicist Nina Katerli became known on November 20. Shortly before her death, her apartment was searched as part of a criminal case against her granddaughter Evgenia Berkovich. Dozens of public figures, including Ksenia Sobchak, Evgeny Mironov, Chulpan Khamatova and Ivan Urgant, in an appeal to Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova, asked to allow Evgenia Berkovich to attend her grandmother’s funeral.

Director Evgenia Berkovich and playwright Svetlana Petriychuk have been in pre-trial detention since May 5 in the case of justifying terrorism (Article 205.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). The basis for the criminal case was the play “Finist Yasnyi Sokol”. Based on the results of a “destructive examination,” the investigation discovered that he glorified the Islamic State (“Islamic State”; a terrorist organization banned in the Russian Federation).

The plot of the play “Finist Yasny Falcon” is based on the stories of women from Russia who decided to marry Islamists and go to Syria. In 2022, the play won in two categories of Russia’s largest theater award, the Golden Mask.

The court extended the arrest of Svetlana Petriychuk and Evgenia Berkovich until January 10, 2024. They do not admit guilt. Evgenia Berkovich is dependent on another grandmother and two adopted daughters.

Read more about the case in the Kommersant publication. “The court did not raise the curtain”.

Anastasia Larina