Tag Archives: update

Serebrennikov released

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A Moscow court has released theater director Kirill Serebrennikov on bail after a year and a half spent under house arrest on criminal fraud charges, Russian news agencies reported this week. Bail terms restricted travel for Serebrennikov, former Seventh Studio general director Yury Itin and former Culture Ministry official Sofia Apfelbaum. A fourth defendant in the case, former Gogol Center director Alexei Malobrodsky, has been under similar travel restrictions since April 2018. The courts’s resent decision has overturned all the defendants’ travel restrictions.
Serebrennikov was detained in August 2017 on charges of embezzling 68 million rubles ($1 million) in government funds as part of a theater project, damages that later doubled to 133 million rubles. Supporters of the Gogol Center’s artistic director say the charges against him are politically motivated.

Sources: themoscowtimes.com, Arsis-Artists.com

Update: National Theatre Tirana

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On 24 July, the President of Albania, Ilir Meta, submitted the complete dossier on the subject of the National Theatre to the Constitutional Court. During his visit on July 25th the Secretary General of the OSCE, Thomas Greminger has stated he believes that “all parties” should wait for the decision of the Constitutional Court before proceeding with the issue of the National Theatre. Albania’s Constitutional Court has been defunct for over a year and has a backlog of tens of thousands of constitutional cases, many of which are by citizens against the government. On the same weekend, the first performance took place again on the stage of the National Theatre. At the beginning of the performance the audience shouted “Long live the theatre”, “Down with the dictatorship”, “Long live freedom”.

Sources: exit/Explaining Albania 25-07-2019, and 30-07-2019, FAZ 26-07-2019, TAZ 31-07-2019

Free Osman Kavala!

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Osman Kavala is in solitary confinement without charge in Istanbul for more than one year (see our post from November 21, 2017).

For over 30 years, he has been active in fostering culture and education in Turkey. As a member of numerous boards and president of the cultural institution »Anadolu Kültür«, which he founded 16 years ago, he’s constructed bridges in civil society from Turkey to Europe and neighbouring countries. The Turkish public prosecutor’s office has rejected four requests for his release. Like many other critical intellectuals in Turkey, he’s been subjected to untenable accusations: among other things, he’s been accused of participating in planning the attempted coup in July 2016. The European Court of Human Rights recently pre-accepted Osman Kavala’s application on the basis of Article 41 of its internal regulations.

Over 10,000 people have now signed a petition.

Sources:  Maxim Gorki Theater Berlin,  Solidarity platform for Osman Kavala

Kirill Serebrennikov’s House Arrest Extended

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A district court in Moscow has extended Russian theater director Kirill Serebrennikov’s house arrest by three months. His house arrest was due to expire on Friday, Jan. 19.

Also, investigators doubled the damages against Serebrennikov’s studio from 68 million rubles to 133 million rubles.

Sources: Moscow Times, Dozhd TV news