3 arrested in Uzbek theater director's stabbing
Published: November 11, 2009
MOSCOW (AP) — An Uzbek official says three men have been arrested for the 2007 killing of a theater director.
Marat Zakhidov of the government-run Human Rights Protection Committee said Wednesday that the suspects had told police they stabbed Mark Weil for his "misinterpretation" of the Muslim holy book in "Imitations of the Quran," which he directed.
Weil, whose productions caused controversy in the tightly controlled, mostly Muslim ex-Soviet state, based the play on Quranic verses and poems by the Russian writer Alexander Pushkin.
In 1979, Weil founded the Soviet Union's first independent theater, which gained popularity for staging uncensored productions.
Zakhidov did not say when the suspects were arrested. He said a fourth suspect had escaped.


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