Svetlana Petriychuk
“…None of this is about the law or truth. In that sense, it feels easier for me, because the last 20 months, I have never lied once. Telling the truth feels good and easy. In the end, truth and justice always win.”
Svetlana Petriychuk, born in 1990, is a playwright, teacher, theatre director, and filmmaker whose imprisonment has become one of the most chilling examples of artistic repression in modern Russia.
In 2023, Svetlana and theatre director Evgenia Berkovich were arrested in Moscow on charges of “justifying terrorism” over their award-winning 2020 theatre production Finist the Bright Falcon. In 2024, both women were sentenced to six years in prison.
Finist the Bright Falcon was based on real stories of women from Russia and neighbouring countries who had been manipulated online and recruited by extremist groups before travelling to Syria. Rather than glorifying terrorism, the production examined the psychological, emotional, and social mechanisms behind radicalisation – serving as both a critique and a warning.
The play was critically acclaimed and received multiple awards, including the prestigious Golden Mask, Russia’s most prestigious theatre award.
Servtlana believes that her artistic work could help people to understand complex social issues and prevent tragedies. Prior to her imprisonment, she was the main carer for her elderly parents.
She is a devoted daughter and wife. Since her arrest, her husband has been solely responsible for funding her legal defence and supporting her family. Soincluding being forced to work up to 50 hours per week.
It’s deeply sinister in its inversion. Not merely censorship, but the criminalisation of interpretation. The idea that exploring difficult realities through art can itself become punishable.
Inside prison, Lana is enduring harsh present conditions, including being forced work up to fifty hours per week.
“We have to send this to 6 years in prison for our art. I am the first writer to be in prison for a work of art since 1966, when the charges are related to the methods of distribution. They haven’t been any trials for theatre place since the 1930s. None of this is about the law or truth. In that sense, it feels easier for me, because the last 20 months, I have never lied once. Telling the truth feels good and easy. In the end, truth and justice always win.”
Svetlana Petriychuk
