Top Russian director Kirill Serebrennikov convicted of fraud

A Moscow court has convicted the acclaimed Russian theatre and film director Kirill Serebrennikov of fraud in a case that supporters saw as a test of artistic freedom in Russia.

The three-year case against Serebrennikov, who was accused of stealing about £1.5m, reached its finale despite nearly falling apart last year. Hundreds of cultural figures in Russia and abroad have spoken out in his support.

The judge ruled that the 50-year-old and two co-defendants were guilty of misappropriating state funds that financed a theatrical project called Platforma, which many say paved the way for other daring arts projects in Russia.

Serebrennikov and his co-defendants Yury Itin and Konstantin Malobrodsky “carried out actions directed at personal enrichment” and acted as a group to mislead employees of the culture ministry, the judge, Olesya Mendeleyeva, said.

A fourth defendant in the case, Sofia Apfelbaum, was unaware of the fraud, the judge said.

The prosecution has asked the court to jail Serebrennikov for six years. Sentencing was expected after the judge had finished reading the verdict, which could take several hours or even days.

Serebrennikov, who heads one of Moscow’s top theatre venues, the Gogol Centre, was arrested in 2017 but the case against him stalled last year when a judge handed it back to the prosecution because of inconsistencies.

It restarted with a new judge, and the amount of the alleged fraud was slightly revised from 133m to 129m roubles.

Serebrennikov was released after several days in jail and placed under house arrest and finally allowed to return to work, leading many to believe the case would be dropped.

On Friday, however, the judge upheld the prosecution’s claim that Serebrennikov had masterminded the theft of state money allocated to the Platforma project between 2011 and 2014.

Serebrennikov and his co-defendants insisted they were innocent.

With coronavirus restrictions still in place in Moscow, only a small number of people were allowed in the courtroom, but hundreds of supporters gathered outside and greeted Serebrennikov with applause before the hearing.

He sat in the front row wearing a black face mask and sunglasses as the judge read through pages of the case, her voice barely audible.

Top arts figures have rejected the prosecution’s claim that the Platforma project cost much less than the state funds provided.

The Bolshoi Theatre director, Vladimir Urin, told the Kommersant newspaper this week that the prosecution’s estimate treated the project’s lavish productions as small plays, deliberately underestimating the figures.

The defence argued the project required more investment than the state funds provided.

Serebrennikov has created works spanning opera, theatre and film, and his productions have regularly won awards.

He has criticised growing censorship of the arts in Russia, and has said that “everything is returning to the most pathetic Soviet practices”.

Artistic figures in Russia and abroad, including Cate Blanchett and Ian McKellen, have spoken out in his defence.

Thousands this month signed an open letter to Russia’s culture minister, Olga Lyubimova, asking her to drop the complaint against the defendants.