‘Yevgenia Berkovich and Svetlana Petriychuk are guilty of nothing but peacefully expressing their views through their art. The Russian authorities used their award-winning play as a smokescreen to silence dissent, and to send a chilling warning to the Russian artistic community that they could be next. The use of military court to try civilians contravenes international law. Berkovich and Petriychuk must be released at once.’ Ma Thida, Chair of PEN International’s Writers in Prison Committee.

11 July 2024 – Theatre director Yevgenia Berkovich and playwright Svetlana Petriychuk must be immediately and unconditionally released, and their wrongful convictions overturned on appeal, PEN International said today, after both women were sentenced by a military court to six years in prison on trumped-up terrorism grounds. PEN International further urges the Russian authorities to halt their relentless crackdown on dissent, including against the artistic community.

On 8 July 2024, the Second Western District Military in Moscow found Yevgenia Berkovich and Svetlana Petriychuk guilty of ‘justifying terrorism’ under Article 205.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and sentenced them to six years in prison. Their trial took place behind closed doors, with members of the public and journalists without cameras only permitted for the sentencing. Berkovich and Petriychuk will also be banned from ‘administering websites’ for three years after their release. Their lawyer said they would appeal.

The case against Berkovich and Petriychuk stems from their award-winning play Finist Yasny Sokol (Finist, The Brave Falcon), about Russian women who travelled to Syria and married members of armed groups. Berkovic and Petriychuk were detained in May 2023 and kept in pre-trial detention despite asking to be placed under house arrest. Both women denied the charges brought against them, arguing that their aim was to prevent terrorism. Supporters of Berkovich believe her prosecution may be linked to a series of poems she wrote criticising the Russian Federation’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Human rights groups, including Amnesty International, have documented how the Russian authorities’ use of over-broad anti-terrorism and anti-extremism legislation has intensified since the Russian Federation’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Lengthy prison terms are handed out against critical voices by military courts behind closed doors, in violation of the right of a fair trial. No one accused of terrorism or related crimes has been acquitted in the Russian Federation since statistics first became available in 2015.

PEN International urges the Russian authorities to align counter-terrorism laws with international standards and to immediately and unconditionally release all writers and other creatives wrongfully convicted or detained under such charges, including Berkovich and Petriychuk.

Additional information

Yevgenia Berkovich, born on 29 April 1985, is a Russian theatre director, playwright and poet. Svetlana Petriychuk, born on 22 April 1980, is a Russian playwright, screenwriter and theatre director. First staged in 2020 by Berkovich’s independent theatre project based on Petriychuk’s eponymous play, Finist Yasny Sokol won Russia’s most prestigious theatre award, the Golden Mask, in two categories in 2022: Best Playwright (Petriychuk) and Best Costume Design.

PEN International has previously documented how theatre directors in the Russian Federation were liable to prosecution. Repression considerably worsened following the Russian Federation’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, with anti-war poets and activists reportedly tortured, and receiving lengthy prison sentences. Scores of cultural figures have left the country since the adoption of draconian war censorship laws in March 2022. In February 2024, the Russian authorities notably issued an arrest warrant against Grigory Chkhartishvili, better known under his pen name Boris Akunin, for justifying terrorism. The London-based bestselling novelist had expressed his support for Ukraine.

Note to Editors

For further information please contact Aurélia Dondo, Head of Europe and Central Asia Region: [email protected]