Top Russian director accused of fraud put under house arrest

                        Vasily Maximov

Russian director Kirill Serebrennikov has denied the fraud charges against him

Acclaimed Russian theatre and film director Kirill Serebrennikov was put under house arrest Wednesday after being charged with fraud in a case that has sent shockwaves through the arts community.

The director had already denounced the charges against him as "absurd" after investigators detained him in Saint Petersburg on Tuesday and drove him to Moscow where he was questioned and charged by the Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes.

He was then held in jail ahead of the hearing on whether to keep him behind bars.

Hundreds of people gathered outside the Basmanny district court in Moscow to support Serebrennikov, 47, who heads the city's Gogol Centre theatre and has staged shows at the legendary Bolshoi.

Judge Yelena Lenskaya ruled to confine the director under house arrest until October 19, an AFP correspondent reported from the courtroom as people outside the courthouse cried "Shame!" and whistled in protest.

The judge added that Serebrennikov could continue going to work if the investigators allow it.

Serebrennikov's lawyer Dmitry Kharitonov told journalists after the hearing that he would appeal against the house arrest, calling it "excessive and baseless."

"He is accused of a serious crime," a representative of the Investigative Committee said in court, arguing that Serebrennikov could flee or put pressure on case witnesses. "He can hide from the investigation. He has real estate abroad."

The Investigative Committee, which probes serious crimes, accuses Serebrennikov of defrauding the state of at least 68 million rubles ($1.15 million, 977,000 euros) in arts funding from 2011 to 2014 on a side project called Platform.

Standing in a courtroom cage clad in a denim jacket and baseball cap, Serebrennikov said he was confused by the charges as he had "spent all the money given by the government on the project". He asked to be freed to continue working on his new film.

"I'm not going to run from the investigation, I'm an innocent person, an honest person," he said.

If convicted, he could be jailed for up to 10 years.

The case has sparked outrage and fear about shrinking artistic freedoms in Russia, with some calling it a demonstration of force against liberal culture ahead of next year's presidential election. President Vladimir Putin is expected to run for office again.

Serebrennikov's detention "in a largely absurd case... is a signal to the creative part of society from the authorities," business daily Vedomosti said in an editorial.

- 'Unconvincing' case -

                      Vasily MAXIMOV

Russia's theatre and film director Kirill Serebrennikov asked the court to free him pending his trial so he could keep working on his latest film

Arts figures spoke out in support of Serebrennikov after a raid on his apartment and theatre in May, when he was declared a witness in the fraud case. His passport was confiscated.

The court decision to restrict Serebrennikov's freedom came after the sister of Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, publisher Irina Prokhorova, offered to pay bail of any amount.

Thirty cultural figures also vouched for the director including Bolshoi Theatre general director Vladimir Urin, film director Alexei German Jr. and the widow of Soviet dissident novelist Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Natalia.

"We believe such treatment of Kirill Serebrennikov is unacceptable," news website Meduza wrote in an editorial. The case against him was "unconvincing", it added, with investigators claiming that a play which received wide acclaim in Russia and abroad was never in fact staged.

Serebrennikov was appointed in 2012 to head an ailing and unpopular Soviet-era theatre, transforming it into a contemporary venue now called the Gogol Centre. As well as staging his own innovative productions, he hosted film and dance festivals.

He has spoken out against growing censorship in the arts while himself being scorned by conservative circles. Russian culture minister Vladimir Medinsky has criticised his reinterpretation of classic works.

He has nevertheless won accolades from the cultural establishment for more mainstream works, with his ballet A Hero of Our Time at the Bolshoi Theatre receiving the country's most prestigious theatrical award the Golden Mask in 2016.

However his latest Bolshoi project Nureyev, a ballet based on the life of legendary dancer Rudolf Nureyev who defected to the West, was pulled three days before the premiere in July, ostensibly because it wasn't ready, in an unprecedented move.—AFP