Arizona Tribune - Trial of Russian playwright and director moves behind closed doors

Director Yevgeniya Berkovich and writer Svetlana Petriychuk are standing trial at a military court over their 2021 play about Russian women lured to marry Islamic State militants in Syria.

Judge Yury Massin accepted a request from prosecutors to hold the rest of the trial "in a closed format", the TASS state news agency reported, after which reporters were asked to leave.

The prosecution had asked for the court to be closed because of threatening comments towards trial participants on social media, TASS reported. The women and their lawyers said they opposed closing the trial.

At a previous hearing this month, a witness who asked for his identity to be hidden to protect his security said he had secretly filmed the play and taken footage to police.

If convicted, the women face up to seven years in prison. They pleaded not guilty at a hearing last month.

"I staged the play to prevent terrorism," Berkovich told the court as the prosecutor accused the women of supporting "extreme forms of Islam".

The women's arrest in May last year sent shockwaves through Russia's artistic community, which has faced unprecedented pressure from the Kremlin since Russia sent troops to Ukraine.

Their play, "Finist The Brave Falcon", was performed in a documentary style, telling the story of Russian women groomed online to join Islamic State and then tried for terrorism on their return to Russia. It was awarded two Golden Mask awards, Russia's top theatre prize.

Berkovich has also written poems criticising the Russian military offensive in Ukraine. Her supporters have said they believe she may be being punished for those verses.

Human rights group Amnesty International has said the pair are "being targeted simply for exercising the right to freedom of expression", calling for their immediate release.

P.Hernandez--AT