The last word of the defendant Pavel Kazadaev in Barnaul

 RUSSIA 

The last word of the defendant Pavel Kazadaev in Barnaul

May 26 , 2023

Altai Territory

From the courtroom

"The state prosecutor wants to send me to a penal colony for 3 years," the believer noted in his last word. — Do they want to correct me by placing me in a society with drug addicts, fraudsters, rapists and murderers?"

Transcript of the court session in the Industrial District Court of Barnaul, Altai Territory dated 05/26/2023 in case 1-18/2023 on charges of Kazadaev Pavel Alekseevich of committing a crime under Part 2 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Kazadaev Pavel Alekseevich:

At the very beginning, I want to express my gratitude to everyone who has supported me lately. I want to express special words of gratitude to my beloved wife, Daria. Thank you for your positive attitude, for your steadfastness, for the support you have given me. All this time you tried not to lose heart, and it made me feel more at ease. Proverbs 31:10 says, "Who will find a virtuous wife? Its price is higher than pearls." I am very grateful to you for having you.

I also want to express my gratitude to my family. Thank you that, despite the weather conditions and the distance, you always tried to come to attend court sessions and support me. It's important to me.

I also want to say words of gratitude to my dear friends. Difficulties are much easier to bear when there are real friends nearby. I want to quote the words of the English philosopher Francis Bacon: "Without true friends ... the world becomes desolate." Your friendship has become a source of strength for me in these difficult times and has made my life joyful and eventful. Through you, God strengthened me and gave me the strength to endure everything and not give up. How great it is to feel like a part of a huge friendly family! In Proverbs 17:17 it is written: "A friend loves at all times and, like a brother, will appear in time of adversity."

Your Honor, Dmitry Vladimirovich, I want to thank you for the time you have spent sorting out this difficult matter. It's really not easy for you to listen carefully to all the participants in the process and analyze it all — this is a large amount of information. I often had to travel outside the city, you did not interfere, for which my family and I are very grateful to you.

Taking this opportunity, I would also like to express my gratitude to your secretary and assistant — they have always shown us kindness and provided all possible assistance. State Prosecutor, I want to thank you for the patience you showed us during the trial. You have always correctly pronounced the name of God — Jehovah.

I also want to thank my lawyer for trying to get into the case. I also want to thank my public defender Konstantin for being ready to participate in the case, to spend a lot of time and effort to protect me.

I want to express some words of gratitude to the court guards for being sympathetic to me and my friends who were on the street.

During the hearings, many arguments were given in my defense, all of them are attached to the case file, so I don't want to repeat myself. And in this last word, I decided to tell a little about myself and my life position based on the Bible.

I was born into a family of believers. Since childhood, my parents taught me on the basis of the Bible. Proverbs 12:11 says, "Whoever cultivates his land will be filled with bread." In accordance with this advice, I was taught to be hardworking. The whole family worked in the garden every summer. I was also taught to do various chores around the house, cook food, wash and iron clothes, keep the room clean and tidy, do simple car repairs.

Ephesians 4:31 says, "Let all irritation, and rage, and anger, and shouting, and slander with all malice be removed from you." Thanks to this advice, I learned to find a common language with other people, calmly settle differences, treat people with respect and peacefully resolve disputes. I was also taught to respect the authorities and observe the laws of the state, as it is written in Romans 13:1: "Let every soul be submissive to the highest authorities." And there are many such principles in the Bible. I am very grateful to my parents that they instilled these norms in me.

These biblical principles have helped me over the years and are helping me now. In 2021, a criminal case was opened against me. And what am I accused of and what am I being tried for? All the time, while the investigation and trial were going on, I tried to understand it — not from a formal point of view, but on the merits of the case.

Formally, I understand that I am being tried for extremism under Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. But reading this article, I tried to understand what of this applies to me, but I did not understand. My beliefs are exclusively peaceful, so there are no victims or victims in the case. Humiliation of human dignity, undermining the foundations of the constitutional system and the security of the state, and incitement of religious discord are unacceptable to me. And the prosecution has not provided a single piece of evidence to the contrary during the entire trial. I read the Bible, talked about biblical topics and prayed to God with my co—religionists - it's sad that the prosecution considers this extremism.

So what is the extremism that I am accused of? Did I get worse after 2017? No. Maybe he used violence against someone? No. Maybe he caused someone pain and suffering? No. Maybe he went to rallies against the authorities? No. Maybe he lost the right to use Article 28 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation? Not either. The state prosecutor wants to send me to a penal colony for 3 years. Do they want to fix me by placing me in a society with drug addicts, fraudsters, rapists and murderers?

In fact, the state wants me to renounce my faith, stop studying the Bible, not discuss it with others and not sing songs glorifying Jehovah. These actions allegedly prove that I continued the activities of an organization banned by the court. How can I then practice my religion in accordance with Article 28 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation?

I once swore allegiance to Jehovah. I dedicated my life to him and I did it sincerely and from the bottom of my heart. I don't want to, can't, and won't renege on my promise.

This criminal case consists of 15 volumes. Quite a lot of material, but the case does not specify the motive for my actions. The investigator writes that I had a criminal intent to commit illegal, intentional actions. But what was the motive?

I want to tell you one case that happened in Indonesia. On September 28, 2018, all radio stations and TV channels broadcast a message about how Antonius, a 21-year-old dispatcher, saved 384 passengers of an airliner at the cost of his life. According to the newspapers, when the plane was preparing for takeoff, a strong earthquake with a magnitude of up to 7.5 points began. The runway is cracked in many places. The young man remained in the control room completely alone — all his colleagues immediately left their jobs. However, Antonius' sense of responsibility for the lives of hundreds of passengers turned out to be much stronger than the instinct of self-preservation. All this time, the brave dispatcher remained on the tower, guiding the pilots and helping them to bypass the deep cracks. When the liner with passengers rose into the air and was safe, the tower began to collapse. In an attempt to escape, the guy jumped from the height of the fourth floor and died as a result of serious injuries. The pilot of that plane wrote: "Batik Air 6231, lane 33 is free for takeoff," this was his last command. Thank you for guiding me so that I could take off safely."

What should have been the reaction of the passengers of the airliner who survived when they found out about it? Three possible answers: 1) everyone should have done this; 2) thank you for saving us at the cost of his life; 3) I owe my life to him and his parents, I want to personally express my gratitude to them and find out how I can be useful to them. Everyone could ask themselves, which of these categories of people would I like to belong to?

This incident reminded me of what Jehovah God and his Son, Jesus Christ, did. John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life." Jesus suffered a painful death for the sake of all people, including me. Thanks to this sacrifice of Jesus, all people have hope for a life in wonderful conditions, where there will be no suffering, wars, diseases and even death.

Words of gratitude and appreciation alone are not enough, feelings alone are not enough, concrete actions are needed. This is how we can show our gratitude for what others have done for us.

I really want to preserve the reputation of a man worthy of respect, who values his word and the honor of being a Jehovah's Witness. This is very important to me. Therefore, Your Honor, I am very much asking for an acquittal. I ask you to attach my last word to the case file.

Summary of the case

Region:

Altai Territory

Locality:

Barnaul

What is suspected of:

According to the investigation, Pavel Kazadaev, "being an active participant in an extremist organization, carried out actions to support the existence of the assembly on the territory of the Altai Territory, including by conducting conversations"

Criminal case number:

12102010022000023

Initiated:

May 11, 2021

Current stage of the case:

the verdict has entered into force

Investigates:

SU IC of the Russian Federation in the Altai Territory

Articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation:

282.2 (2)

Case number in court:

1-18/2023

Court of First Instance:

Industrial District Court of Barnaul, Altai Territory

Judge of the Court of First instance:

Dmitry Malikov