The last word of the defendant Nikolai Zhugin in Orenburg

 Russia 

The last word of the defendant Nikolai Zhugin in Orenburg

July 26, 2023

Speaking with the last word, the believer appealed to justice, prompting the court not to determine guilt only by his religious beliefs. He stated: "Everyone who really knows me as a person understands that my lifestyle is far from extremism and that they judge me solely for my faith."

Transcript of the court session in the Industrial District Court of Orenburg dated 07/26/2023 in the case 1-1/2023 on charges of Zhugin Nikolay Nikolaevich and others. in committing a crime under Part 2 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Zhugin Nikolay Nikolaevich:

Jehovah's Witnesses are grateful people. And therefore, Your Honor, I want to thank you for your trust. Somehow, during the trial, you let me go on vacation with my family, for my part, I am grateful to you for this and glad that I did not let down your trust in me.

Thank you, dear Secretary, for your courtesy and hard work, because you had to type a lot.

Thank you, dear Prosecutor, for not always objecting when documents from the defense were attached.

I also want to thank you, the lawyer under the agreement, for your professionalism, for a good knowledge of the laws of the country. Thank you for using this knowledge competently, protecting my religious rights as a believer. You had to work hard for a long time to figure out and understand how to protect a believer in such difficult conditions. Behind your back, I felt "like behind a stone wall" and from this I remained calm at all meetings. Thank you very much!

Thanks to all the appointed lawyers who have always supported our religious position. Thank you to all my dear friends for their support, which they provided to me, coming to these court sessions, despite personal circumstances and the weather. You've always been there, and it's very nice.

I thank Jehovah for his strength, with which he has supported me all these five years and what gives me peace of mind now to accept any court decision.

I want to start my last word with an incident that occurred in the Investigative Committee. I remember how, at the end of the investigative actions, the investigator directly told me: "I would like to deal with bandits, not you." I think he showed with his words that his conscience draws the line between us, believers, and bandits, between peaceful worship of God and prohibited activities. He separated these concepts, but, of course, not in the volumes of this case, and it is obvious to me why he did not do this. But nevertheless, I am here, in the dock. It reminded me of a biblical story, the story of Jesus Christ, who was unjustly condemned to death. What did I see in common in these two stories, between which so many centuries have passed? These are two points. First, the accusation, and how it went. Secondly, the helplessness of people in power, when they see injustice, but they can't do anything about it, but follow the majority. On this occasion, a German poet said: "The measure of justice cannot be a majority of votes."

As for the accusation of Jesus and how it went. On Easter night, without waiting for morning, Jesus was brought to the house of the high priest Caiaphas, where all the members of the Sanhedrin gathered — that was the name of the Jewish supreme court in the first century. It consisted of 71 people, which accounted for most of the votes. What was Jesus questioned about? John 18:19 says, "The high Priest asked Jesus about his disciples and about his teaching." Does this remind you, Your Honor, of what the state prosecutor asked us about during the interrogation? He asked who the elders were, who the service assistants were, who the pioneers were, and so on. The state prosecutor also asked about what the kingdom of God is, who is a faithful and prudent slave, and so on. As we have seen, all the questions concerned the exercises and those who follow them, but not the substance of the trial — MRO "Tsentralnaya — Orenburg". And how did the state prosecutor himself confirm this? He said: "What does the MRO have to do with it? MRO does not interest us, I am not asking about MRO." It turns out that we are condemned not for the actions of the MRO, but for faith. And this is obvious.

Later, Jesus was brought to the ruler Pontius Pilate, a man who was endowed with more power than the priests. They themselves could not kill Jesus and decided to do it with the help of Pontius Pilate. After that, the senior priests hurried to quickly find false witnesses who were told what and how to accuse Jesus before Pilate. These false witnesses accused Jesus of corrupting the people with his teachings, that he allegedly sows confusion among the people, forbidding them to pay taxes to Caesar and "calling himself Christ the King" (Luke 23:2). But Pilate was a shrewd man, and after listening to Jesus, he called together the senior priests, the Jewish rulers and the people, and made a statement: "You have brought this Man to me as corrupting the people, and behold, I have examined in your presence and have not found this Man guilty of anything of which you accuse Him" (Luke 23:14). Pontius Pilate understood that Jesus was innocent and being treated unfairly, but nevertheless, succumbing to the majority of voices, that is, the noisy crowd, and behind which stood the priests of the Sanhedrin, could not go against the system and gave Christ to execution for those crimes that he did not commit. The same thing is happening today: unfair, groundless accusations are being made against Jehovah's Witnesses, containing obvious lies and a distorted interpretation of their teachings. And many people understand that Jehovah's Witnesses are not criminals. Among these people there are those who are powerful people who could restore justice for innocent people, but they are helpless before those who set them short deadlines for visions of court cases, and subsequently Jehovah's Witnesses receive real terms for what they did not commit. Yes, it is really difficult to understand the issues concerning people's faith.

Your Honor, please note that my beliefs are based on the Bible and cannot be extremist, because the main quality of a Christian that Christ commanded to manifest is love. One text of the Holy Scripture says: "By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love among yourselves" (John 13:35). And Romans 13:9 says, "For the commandments, 'Thou shalt not commit adultery,' 'Thou shalt not kill,' 'Thou shalt not steal,' 'Thou shalt not bear false witness,' 'Thou shalt not covet another man,' and all others are contained in this word, 'Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.'" And no matter what lies are told about us in this courtroom, Jehovah's Witnesses will always be a worldwide brotherhood without borders — we love each other and will love all other people regardless of their place of residence, nationality and position in society. Throughout history, Jehovah's Witnesses have never been involved in any conflict, whether between people or countries. They are known as peace-loving people. All this convincingly proves that such peacefulness is directly opposite to the spirit of the article that I am accused of today — part 2 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation relating to extremism. At the same time, the prosecution does not consciously distinguish the activities of the MRO "Tsentralnoye — Orenburg" from canonical religious groups that used the constitutional rights and freedoms granted to them by the state of the Russian Federation.

And, perhaps, the most important question to which the prosecution has not given an answer: how to realize the constitutional right to joint confession of faith within the framework of the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses and at the same time not become criminally prosecuted?

I would like to emphasize once again that all my actions were carried out solely for the purpose of exercising the right to joint confession and dissemination of faith, guaranteed by Article 28 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation. No one has canceled this article in Russia yet.

I would like to emphasize once again that my motives were and remain pure. I did not continue the activities of the banned organization, but wanted and want to continue to peacefully profess my faith and, together with my other co-religionists, satisfy my spiritual needs.

Over the past 5 years, since a criminal case was opened against me, I have not met a single acquaintance who would have spoken positively about the persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses. On the contrary, all my friends, neighbors, my Orthodox relatives are in shock. But they were especially struck by the unreasonably requested punishment against me — 2 years and 6 months of imprisonment. Everyone who really knows me as a person understands that my lifestyle is far from extremism and that they judge me solely for my faith.

I am accused of having a motive of religious hatred, but the case materials contain positive characteristics of my close Orthodox relatives who have known me for many years, and some have known me all my life: my wife, mother, sister, mother-in-law and former employer. If I had a hate motive, would these characteristics be positive? Do you remember the locket that my wife gave me for our wedding anniversary? What kind words she wrote to me there. It was my faith that helped me save my family, raise smart children and make it happy and strong. But the baseless accusations that the state prosecutor presented in court can destroy my family.

In addition, I would like to draw your attention, dear court, that there is not a single victim in this case. If my actions were actually criminal and socially dangerous, then where are the victims of my criminal behavior? There are none, dear court. This alone proves that there is no danger from me, neither to the state, nor to the constitutional order, nor to any groups of individuals or individual citizens. My faith in Jehovah God has nothing to do with the extremism they are trying to accuse me of.

What is the purpose and essence of the punishment, dear court? Throughout the whole process, Your Honor, in fact, we discussed my faith in the God Jehovah, forms of worship and belonging to the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses. This is indicated by various examinations conducted at the direction of the investigative bodies, which confirmed my belonging to this religion. It was not difficult to do this — it was necessary to isolate from the presented transcripts the words that Jehovah's Witnesses use in their religious vocabulary and to record the peculiarities of holding meetings of believers peculiar to this religion. And it turns out that they want to condemn me precisely for these actions, so that in the future I no longer pray, discuss the Bible and praise God in songs together with friends. That is, in fact, they want to force me to give up my faith.

If the purpose of the punishment is correction, then what exactly should I improve in the next 2 years and 6 months according to the prosecution? Thanks to my faith, I have learned to respect the views of people who do not share my beliefs. I don't swear, I don't smoke, I don't get drunk, I don't use drugs, I've never had a police record, I'm not registered in a mental hospital. All this is thanks to my faith and it is thanks to her that I have become a happy and joyful person, and now my conscience is clear both before God and before the law.

Since the mid-1990s, I have been a Jehovah's Witness, all this time I have been praying to God, reading the Bible, and thanks to this, during all this time, I have never done any harm to anyone — neither to people nor to the state. I have never committed any crimes and I have never even had such a thing in my mind. What has changed after April 20, 2017? Why, after the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, does the prosecution believe that I suddenly became dangerous? So what should I improve on? Should I stop worshipping my loving and caring God Jehovah together with my co-religionists? And then who should I become? Are all Jehovah's Witnesses now always going to be counted as a legal entity? And they will all be imprisoned, including women, children, and the elderly? Do I really need to sever all ties with my co-religionists now or stop holding services based on a single program for believers around the world? Or maybe I need to renounce the faith, as was required of Jehovah's Witnesses in the Soviet Union? My Bible-trained conscience will not allow me to do any of this, dear court.

Your Honor, at the beginning of my last word, I was talking about justice, and I want to end on the same. French writer Jean-Jacques Rousseau said: "To see injustice and remain silent means to participate in it yourself."

Your Honor, I ask you to restore justice for me in this Hall. And what will be justice in this court? It is obvious that justice for a believer comes if his legal rights are taken into account and protected. I hope you will pass a fair sentence, because the court is not only a punishment, but also an excuse.

Summary of the case

Region:

Orenburg region

Locality:

Orenburg

What is suspected:

according to the investigation, he conducted divine services together with others, which is interpreted as "organizing and participating in the activities of an extremist organization"

Criminal case number:

11802530021000017

Initiated:

May 14, 2018

Current stage of the case:

proceedings in the court of first instance

Investigates:

SU IC of the Russian Federation in the Orenburg region

Articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation:

282.2 (2), 282.3 (1), 282.2 (1)

Case number in court:

1-1/2023 (1-2/2022; 1-139/2021; 1-62/2020; 1-501/2019)

Court:

Industrial District Court of Orenburg

Judge:

Diana Sudorgina