A Russian court on Monday sentenced a playwright and a theater director to six years in prison each for "justifying terrorism" in a trial that human rights activists said showed Russia's intolerance of artistic freedom.
Director Zhenya Berkovič (39) and playwright Svetlana Petrijčuk (44) were arrested in May of last year for the production of a play called "Finist, Bright Falcon" about Russian women who marry members of the so-called "Islamic State".
It is one of the most high-profile prosecutions of Russian artists over the content of their artwork since Moscow sent troops into Ukraine in 2022. Both have denied wrongdoing.
The seven-week trial was condemned by free speech activists and the Russian art community as politically motivated.
Judge Jurij Masin approved the prosecutors' request to close the proceedings to the public due to alleged threats to some participants.
Defense lawyer Ksenija Karpinskaja announced that she will appeal the verdict and sentence.
"Of course we will appeal this verdict, although we don't have much hope," she said outside the court in a video posted on social media.
"But I want you to know that they are absolutely innocent. Nothing new was produced in the closed session," said Karpinskaja.
At the start of the trial in late May, Berkovic and Petrijchuk said they put on the play because they oppose terrorism, not because they support it.
"I staged the play to prevent terrorism," Berkovic said in court and added that there is "nothing but condemnation and disgust" for terrorists.
The play "Finist – Brave Falcon", first performed in December 2022, won the Golden Mask Award of the Russian National Theater.
Petrijčuk wrote a play six years ago based on documentary materials and court records, and Berkovič staged a play that was shown in theaters and participated in festivals for several years.
Last year, on May 4, two of them were detained. According to investigators, the play, which talks about women who married militants of the so-called "Islamic State" and went to Syria, contains "signs of justification and propaganda of terrorist activities."
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