Russia jails theatre director amid crackdown on dissent

Theater director Zhenya Berkovich stands in a cage in a courtroom prior to a hearing in a court in Moscow, Russia (Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP/PA)

A Russian court has ordered pretrial detention for a theatre director facing charges of justifying terrorism, the latest move in a relentless crackdown on dissent in Russia since the start of the war in Ukraine.

The Zamoskvoretsky District Court in Moscow jailed Zhenya Berkovich, a prominent independent theatre director and playwright, for two months pending investigation and trial.