The prosecutor in the trial that ended on Monday in Moscow against Kirill Serebrennikov and three of his former employees in the organization "Seventh studio" are demanding that the film and theater director be sentenced to six years in prison, writes the Russian news agency Interfax. In addition to the prison sentence, the Russian film and theater director is also required to pay a fine of 800,000 rubles.

Serebrennikov, along with the other defendants, is accused of embezzling 129 million in the form of state cultural support. He was arrested for the first time in the summer of 2017 and was then placed under house arrest in Moscow, and released from the arrest only in April 2019.

Putin critic

In recent years, Kirill Serebrennikov has held a prominent position in the Russian cultural world. He is artistic director of the Gogol Center in Moscow, and is behind a number of well-known stage sets, including the biographical ballet set about Rudolf Nureyev, which was stopped by the Russian authorities for the premiere of the Bolshevik Theater in Moscow.

Serebrennikov has also become known as a harsh critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin and in connection with the arrest of 2017, several Russian cultural figures also protested against the incident - which they believed had political motives.

Appeal against prosecution

3,500 people, including many well-known cultural figures, also published a call on Sunday to the country's Minister of Culture, Olga Ljubimova, urging her to withdraw the prosecution against Serebrennikov and the other defendants.

The Kremlin has also been asked to comment on the call, but according to Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for Vladimir Putin, Russian President Putin will not intervene in the case.

“President Putin is not the addressee of the letter. In addition, he has no right to interfere in the work of the country's prosecutor - which he never does, "Peskov said in a comment.

Judgment in the case is expected to fall on June 26.