The jailed director of Moscow’s Gogol Center Kirill Serebrennikov was allowed to attend his mother’s cremation, the Interfax news agency reports.
Irina Litvin, the mother of the prominent theater director, died Feb. 17 in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don after a long period of illness. Her death was confirmed Tuesday to the state-run RIA Novosti news agency by Serebrennikov’s father.
Some commentators on social media reported that Serebrennikov had been refused permission to see his mother or attend her cremation. Serebrennikov, was placed under house arrest in August on charges of embezzling government funds worth 68 million rubles ($1.1 million).
"I have not seen my parents for a long time, and a few days ago my mother died,” Serebrennikov was cited as saying on Wednesday at a Moscow City Court hearing. “Yesterday I attended her cremation."
It is still unclear from his comments when and for how long he was released.
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