British actor Ian McKellen spoke in support of director Kirill Serebrennikov, whom sentenced to the suspended sentence and the fine in the case of the Seventh Studio.
McKellen called Serebrennikov one of the main directors of Russian theater and cinema, and his Gogol Center was the pride of Moscow. “In this theater, creative people and spectators have freedom of expression, despite the authoritarianism of the state,” said the British actor. In his letter to Serebrennikov, McKellen writes that a visit to the Gogol Center was the main impression of his visit to Russia four years ago.
According to the actor, despite the verdict, in the United Kingdom and around the world, artists will remain delighted with the work of the Russian director. “None of us is above the law, including your accusers. I hope that justice will prevail and you can return to work that glorifies you and your beloved country,” McKellen wrote.
In 2017, McKellen, known, among other things, for the role of Gandalf in the popular in Russia film trilogies Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, already expressed his support for the Russian director immediately after his arrest.
On Friday, the Meshchansky court in Moscow found Serebrennikov guilty of embezzlement in the Seventh Studio case. He was sentenced to three years of suspended sentence and 800 thousand rubles fine. Other defendants in this criminal case – Alexei Malobrodsky and Yuri Itin – were sentenced to two and three years probation respectively. Sophia Apfelbaum was found not guilty of embezzlement, but of negligence, and was sentenced to a fine, moreover, she will be released from his payment due to the expiration of the statute of limitations.
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