Russia: suspended prison sentence for director and director Kirill Serebrennikov

Russian film and theater director Kirill Serebrennikov waits before his hearing in Moscow court on June 26, 2020. REUTERS / Maxim Shemetov

Text by: Daniel Vallot Follow

It is the end of a court case that has kept the world of Russian art and theater in suspense for the past three years. Kirill Serebrennikov, a director and director accused of embezzlement by the authorities in his country, was found guilty of fraud, but was only sentenced to a suspended prison sentence. It is therefore a relief for the director and his entourage.

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From our correspondent in Moscow,

Cheers and applause for the verdict: the director's supporters, massed in front of the gates of the court, feared a much more severe penalty.

Three years in prison, but suspended, this means that the judge responsible for the case refuses to disavow the accusation and the prosecution, but that she gives up sending the director to prison.

This Serebrennikov affair had aroused great emotion in Russia, and a significant mobilization of the cultural world because it seemed fabricated to muzzle one of the most innovative and recognized voices of the current Russian theater, and a voice that does not did not fit the traditional and conservative values ​​of Russian power.

This is why we wanted to silence him and put him in prison, explained to RFI one of his admirers who came to support him outside the doors of the court.

In the end, the case deflates, in a way, but the conviction remains, and even if Kirill Serrebrenikov is at large, the threat will continue to hang over us, the director of a Moscow theater said very much for RFI. freedom of creation in his country.

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