The last word of the defendant Vladimir Poltoradnev in Solikamsk

 RUSSIA 

The last word of the defendant Vladimir Poltoradnev in Solikamsk

August 14 , 2023

Perm Region

Speaking in court, the believer stressed: "I value a clear conscience before God and people. Therefore, I have never had any motives to commit what God hates, it is unthinkable for me to commit crimes either before God or before the state."

Transcript of the court session in the Solikamsk City Court of Perm Krai dated 08/14/2023 in the case 1-180/2023 on charges of Vladimir Alekseevich Poltoradnev and others. in committing a crime under Part 1 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Poltoradnev Vladimir Alekseevich:

Dear Court! I want to start my last word with words of gratitude. This is a very important moment — to thank others. It's worth a lot.

Your Honor, thank you for your conscientious work and professionalism, for your respectful attitude towards us, for the friendly and calm atmosphere during the hearing of the case, especially for your patience and desire to understand this criminal case.

I also wanted to thank the respected prosecutor. Although you had to read a lot and quickly, but you pronounced the name of God correctly. You understand perfectly well that I am not an extremist, neither by law, nor by way of life, nor by conscience. I know you're just doing your job. And although you have requested a term of imprisonment of 6 years in a general regime colony, I do not hold a grudge against you, and I have no negative feelings towards you, it's true.

Many thanks to Yulia's secretary for all the technical work in connection with court records and documents.

Thanks to Alexey Yurievich, Irina Nikolaevna, Zhanna Borisovna. You, as a united friendly team, defended the interests, non-prohibited religious beliefs and principles of justice, proving the innocence of your clients.

I also want to thank my God Jehovah, who not only entrusted me to be his servant, but also to speak here in court in his defense. After all, it was thanks to this process that many got acquainted with the religious beliefs of Jehovah's Witnesses, listened to the programs of divine services and became convinced of the absurdity of the accusation of extremism, incitement to hatred and enmity.

I thank my dear friends from Solikamsk from the bottom of my heart. In difficult moments for me, you were a support and support for me, despite the hot weather, you came and were present in the courtroom. I thank my friends from other places in Russia and around the world for their prayers, words of support that helped me maintain emotional balance and peace in my heart. You are real friends! And the fact that you have been here all this time says that I am not an extremist, but a normal, ordinary person who believes in God and in justice.

The court must have a complete picture of the defendant. This picture will not be complete without understanding the defendant's inner attitude to the crime he is charged with. I hope that my vision of love will help you see this whole picture.

On the last night of his life on earth , Jesus Christ prayed to God Jehovah for his disciples in these words: "I have revealed Your name to them, and I will reveal it again, so that they will show the same love that you show to me, and that I will be in unity with them" (The Gospel of John, chapter 17, verse 26). Pay attention — "the same love that you show to me." Jesus Christ noticed how God loves him. And I see the love of God. The love of God is not an abstract concept. It is quite possible to touch it, and almost at any time. Our body, delicious food, sea and sand, mountains and trees are all manifestations of God's love. Life is a gift from God.

In the rush of worries, we can forget that looking does not mean seeing, and hearing does not mean listening. I realized my responsibility to God. It means doing what the Creator of man likes, avoiding things that he hates.

God did not just set the norms of good and evil. He put the craving for love and justice into the nature of human essence. With mother's milk, we have absorbed that stealing, cheating, scolding someone is evil. What is the basis of all these prohibitions? Love and justice. People, sometimes without realizing it, wrote laws dictated by love and justice. The Bible itself confirms this fact. In the Letter to the Romans, chapter 2, verses 14 and 15, it is said: "Whenever people from other nations who do not have a law, by nature do what is lawful, they, although they do not have a law, are their own law. They show that the essence of the law is written in their hearts, while their conscience testifies with them and in their thoughts they accuse themselves or justify themselves."

Thus, God has left us a clue how to find him. This clue is inside each of us. It's called conscience. When we shy away from acting out of love and justice, conscience torments us. And when we do the right thing, it gets warm in the chest. There comes a deep feeling that you justify the purpose of your existence. Your Honor, I value a clear conscience before God and people. Therefore, I have never had any motives to commit what God hates, it is unthinkable for me to commit crimes either before God or before the state.

God has left a bright trace of love and justice on the formation of our worldview. This is obvious if you look at the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Each of the articles contains a core. If I may, one phrase: "Love your neighbor as yourself." I can't pass by the 125th article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, with what sympathy it is written. I quote: "The deliberate abandonment without the help of a person who is in a life- or health-threatening condition and is deprived of the opportunity to take measures for self-preservation due to infancy, old age, illness or due to his helplessness in cases where the perpetrator had the opportunity to help this person." And then it says what kind of punishment follows. This article, as you can see, does not prohibit, but encourages something to be done. I wholeheartedly share this thought: it is necessary to help someone who is in trouble.

Your Honor, it may surprise you that the 125th article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is reflected almost verbatim in the Bible. In the book of Proverbs, chapter 24, verses 11, 12, it is written: "Save those who are led away to death. And to those who are close to death, won't you come to the rescue? If you say, "We didn't know that," won't the one who evaluates hearts notice and the one who observes your soul recognize and reward a person according to his deeds?" Note: the one who evaluates hearts and observes will reward according to deeds. This is God. What prompted the State to establish criminal liability under article 125? The love that Jehovah God has given us.

Not to do the evil described in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is a reflection of God's norms regarding good and evil. Violation of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is evil towards one's neighbor. Such evil is the way from God, not to God.

I have never questioned the correctness of the norms of good and evil set out in secular laws. I was and remain law-abiding. I have never been prosecuted before. I have always had and still have good relations with people, as was said by witnesses in court and my relatives who do not share my religious beliefs.

During the Second World War, Jehovah's Witnesses refused to take up arms in order not to kill their neighbors. For this they were exiled to prisons and camps. More than 2,000 Jehovah's Witnesses were killed for refusing to support fascism. There is a documented fact that Jehovah's Witnesses, who had purple triangles sewn on their clothes, could at any moment end their suffering in a concentration camp by signing a renunciation of faith and joining the ranks of Wehrmacht soldiers.

Jehovah's Witnesses of the current generation are determined to show the same love for their neighbors and for God. I am proud that I am a follower of the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses and that I am not accused of committing a crime, but am being tried solely for my beliefs that are not prohibited by law. After all, religion is not prohibited, worship services are not prohibited, reading and studying the Bible is not prohibited. And almost three years of criminal prosecution prove again and again that I did not commit a crime.

There are two words in the name of my religion — Jehovah's Witness. The word "witness" has a legal connotation — to testify, to confirm some facts. I can't stop testifying about Jehovah God and his Word of the Bible. I wished and wish people only the best. Nowhere in the case file is there a hint of hatred or violence. I think you still remember what I read from the 125th article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. If I fall silent as a Witness of God, then I will leave my neighbor in danger.

For more than 20 years, I have helped many people to give up violence, quit smoking and swear. People made changes because they loved the laws of God. If I had fallen silent as a Jehovah's Witness, I would have violated both the law of God and the 125th article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. My conscience would crack, and conscience, as I have already said, I value very much.

We know about the consequences of smoking and violence. Judge for yourself: would it be a manifestation of love and justice on my part to keep silent that these deeds not only harm health, but also upset God? If people lived according to the commandments of Christ, then how much grief could be avoided. My freedom can be taken away from me, but it is impossible to forbid me to love God and my neighbor.

My daughter is present at the court hearing. I became a believer when she was 12 years old. Since that time, I have tried to instill in her a love for biblical truths, tried to show by word and deed that it is important to be honest, kind, loving. And now, being here in the meeting room, what conclusions can she draw? Is it really bad to be truthful, loving and act kindly? Why is a person living according to the Bible subjected to criminal prosecution and unreasonably trying to hang the label of an "extremist"? Daughter, I wanted to tell you that I am very proud of you! I raised you as a decent, loving, moral person.

There is a popular expression of Kozma Prutkov: “If you read the inscription “Buffalo” on an elephant’s cage, don’t believe your eyes.” The author left the reader the right to choose for himself what not to believe - the inscription or what is in the cage. In my opinion, the court is now facing  a similar choice of what to believe: that someone wrote on paper that I and my friends are criminals, or that the court sees with its own eyes - proof of cleanliness before the law. I really hope, Your Honor, that with your decision you will set an example  fairness, honesty and impartiality.

 Your Honor, I ask you to make a fair decision, given all the facts.  I ask me to fully justify and recognize the right to rehabilitation due to the lack of corpus delicti.  Thank you for listening.

 case summary

 Region:

 Perm region

 Locality:

 Solikamsk

 What is suspected:

 "Directly participated in religious meetings ... discussed with followers issues and topics of a religious nature" (from the decision to bring him as an accused)

 Case number:

 12002570024000055

 Initiated:

 July 27, 2020

 Current stage of the case:

 trial in the court of first instance

 Investigating:

 SO in Solikamsk

 Articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation:

 282.2(1)

 Case number in court:

 1-180/2023

 Court of First Instance:

 Solikamsk City Court of the Perm Territory

 Judge of the Court of First Instance:

 Evgeny Sergeev