Moscow (AFP)
Six months after the lifting of his house arrest that did not stop the prosecution against him, the Russian director Kirill Serebrennikov received Monday in Moscow the insignia of Commander of Arts and Letters, distinction awarded by the France in August 2018.
Kirill Serebrennikov, 50, received the insignia of Commander from the hands of the French Ambassador to Moscow, Mrs. Sylvie Bermann. She hailed in Serebrennikov "one of the most versatile and fruitful creators in all fields", "representing the culture of today and tomorrow, Russian and universal".
Artistic director of the Gogol Center, a theater he transformed into one of the nerve centers of contemporary culture in Moscow, director of cinema ("Leto", 2018) Kirill Serebrennikov is accused by the Russian judiciary of having hijacked about 130 million rubles (1.8 million euros) of public subsidies between 2011 and 2014.
Arrested in August 2017, he remained under house arrest until April 2019, without having the right to leave Moscow. In September 2019, the Russian justice finally lifted "all the preventive measures" against him and three of his collaborators and returned the file to the Public Prosecutor's office, considering it incomplete.
Kirill Serebrennikov has always denied the charges against him, his supporters believing he pays the rise of conservative values in Russia, where artists are facing increasing pressure.
Without openly opposing President Vladimir Putin, Kirill Serebrennikov has repeatedly criticized these pressures as his works, addressing topics such as politics, religion or sexuality, are regularly criticized by Orthodox activists or authorities.
In early October, the court announced the referral of the case to a court for reconsideration, raising fears for the defenders of Kirill Serebrennikov, a renewal of the case.
© 2019 AFP