Career Svetlana Petriychuk was born on April 22, 1980 in
Frunze, the capital of the
Kyrgyz SSR (now
Kyrgyzstan). She graduated from the Kyrgyz-Slavic University with a degree in international journalism. In the 2000s, she often visited
Almaty and worked on Kazakhstani television. the competition-festival “First Reading” within the framework of the festival “Five Evenings” named after A. M. Volodin, the international laboratory LARK (New York), and others. In 2019, Petriychuk wrote
Finist, the Brave Falcon, Another denunciation of the play was written by an actor from
Nizhny Novgorod Vladimir Karpuk. However, according to
TV Rain, it was media mogul
Nikita Mikhalkov who denounced Berkovich, Petriychuk, and the play "Finist the Brave Falcon" to
Aleksandr Bastrykin, head of the
Investigative Committee of Russia. This served as the catalyst for their arrest. The arrest has caused a wide public outcry. After the arrest,
Novaya Gazeta published an open letter of support, demanding the immediate release of both women.
Dmitry Muratov expressed support for the theatermakers and called the case against them political persecution. Independent experts mentioned that the play carried a clear anti-terrorist message. The letter was signed by more than 16,000 people.
Amnesty International urged Russian authorities to release the women. The trial started on 20 May, 2024. According to the prosecutor, in the play ‘women displayed positive opinions of ISIS’ and ‘the play did not sufficiently denounce radical Islamist ideologies’. On July 8, 2024, judge Yury Massin sentenced Petriychuk and Berkovich to six years in prison.{{cite web According to Petriychuk's husband Yuriy Shekhvatov, letters sent to her or written by her are checked by censors. On February 11, 2025, after 649 days in pre-trial detention, Petriychuk was transferred from pre-trial detention centre No. 6 ‘Pechatniki’ in Moscow to a colony No.5 in
Mozhaysk.{{cite web| url =https://www.forbes.ru/forbes-woman/531368-dramaturga-svetlanu-petrijcuk-etapirovali-v-koloniu-v-mozajske| title =Драматурга Светлану Петрийчук этапировали в колонию в Можайске| last =Olga == After the arrest ==