MOSCOW, October 12 (RAPSI) – Investigators have lodged a motion to extend the house arrest of a theater director Kirill Serebrennikov, charged with embezzlement, for three months, the spokesperson of Moscow’s Basmanny District Court Yunona Tsareva told RAPSI on Thursday.

The court will hear the petition on October 17.

The Gogol Center theater director was arrested on August 22. Investigators believe that Serebrennikov organized embezzlement of 68 million rubles ($1.1 million). The defendant pleaded not guilty.

According to investigators, Serebrennikov developed the Platforma project for promotion of art in 2011 and received allocated funds of 214 million rubles (about $3.6 million) from the Ministry of Culture in 2011-2014.

Investigators believe that Serebrennikov created Seventh Studio stage company to actualize the project and invited former head of the company Yury Itin, ex- general producer Alexey Malobrodsky, and former chief accountant Nina Maslyayeva, among others, into organization.

Investigators allege that on request of the theater director Itin, Malobrodsky, and Maslyayeva were falsifying data for the Platforma project’s plans in 2011-2014. This data was provided to the Ministry of Culture as the rationale for financing from the state budget.

Earlier, Maslyayeva, who stands charged with embezzling public funds allocated for promotion of art, has testified against Serebrennikov.

Maslyayeva said that Serebrennikov, Malobrodsky and Itin organized embezzlement of money allocated for the cultural event. Serebrennikov and Malobrodsky cashed the money with the assistance of Maslyayeva. The woman also said that she entered falsified data in financial reports.

The Gogol Center has been raided by police as a part of investigation into the case. Searches have also been conducted in Serebrennikov’s place of residence.