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If he received a three-year suspended prison sentence, the director and theater director, acclaimed in Cannes and Avignon, did not escape the fine and the ban on directing any cultural organization.
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Revealed in terms of theater staging at the Festival d’Avignon 2015, with The idiots, adaptation of the film by Lars von Trier, transposed into current Russia, and very provocative – with in particular scenes dealing with corruption or homophobia – then confirmed with his adaptation of Dead souls, and with Outside (piece distinguished in France as Best Foreign Show, by the Prix du Syndicat de la Critique 2020), Kirill Serebrennikov also saw his talents as directors acclaimed at the Cannes Film Festival, first with The Disciple, then with Summer, in Competition for the Palme d’Or in 2018. Little appreciated by the Russian government for the themes it addresses, and the way it treats them, among others, and already sentenced between 2017 and 2019 to a house arrest , he saw the verdict of his trial rendered on June 26. Accused of embezzlement as regards public subsidies, during his direction of the Gogol Center Theater in Moscow, he was inflicted, by the Mechtchanski court of Moscow, three years suspended prison sentence, as well as’a fine of 800,000 rubles (Around 10,000 euros), three years of probation, and a ban on directing any cultural structure.
During the three years that the trial lasted, Kirill Serebrennikov always declared himself innocent, and his supporters considered this affair as political above all, and linked to questions about freedom of expression in Russia, today. Judge Olessya Mendeleeva estimated that “ the rehabilitation of Serebrennikov [était] possible without real penalty ” from prison. Three people – his assistants in his theatrical activities – by his side on the dock were also sentenced to suspended prison terms and fines (including one covered by prescription, for one of these defendants).
The previous Monday, the prosecution had asked for a six-year firm prison sentence against Serebrennikov. So these are applause from a few hundred people gathered in court, which therefore welcomed the release of the director and director. He said he would appeal – along with his co-defendants – and greeted those who support him.
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Geoffrey Nabavian
