A Russian court ordered today the temporary detention of an award-winning director, Yevgenia (Zhenia) Berkovichwhich is accused for “apology of terrorism” on the occasion of one of her works, amid the crackdown on dissent following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The 38-year-old artist, who faces 7 years in prison, will be held until July 4, the Zamoskvoretsky District Court in Moscow announced.

According to Russian news agency TASS, Berkovich and playwright Svetlana Petrychuk were under investigation by prosecutors for the play Finist, the brave hawk, which premiered in 2020. The play, written by Petrychuk and directed by Berkovich, tells the story of Russian women who married Islamic State fighters.

Petrychuk, 43, is expected to be arraigned in the same court later today.

“Finist the Brave Falcon” won two Golden Mask theater awards last year while Berkowitz was nominated for the director award.

The detention of the two women was condemned by many prominent artists and representatives of culture in Russia. Journalist Ksenia Sabtsak said the case against them demonstrates “excessive ignorance” given that the work essentially sends a message against terrorism. “The heroines leave their families, their university, their jobs and go to a hell with their lovers who promise them love and a happy life,” she commented in her post on Telegram. “There, they first become almost slaves and then return to their homeland as prisoners. It is clear that the production had an anti-terrorist message,” he added.

An appeal for the release of the two women, launched by the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta, has already gathered 3,000 signatures. The text points out that last year Berkovic had published verses against the war in Ukraine.

Yevgenia Berkovich is a former student and collaborator of director Kirill Serebrennikov, who now lives in exile in Germany and is known for his works that criticize the Russian elite.