The last word of the defendant Alexei Gerasimov in Kazan

 RUSSIA 

The last word of the defendant Alexei Gerasimov in Kazan

on December 7, 2023.

Tatarstan

In his last word, the believer expressed a misunderstanding of what he was being punished for and what he needed to improve on. In addition, he noted that the views of Jehovah's Witnesses in matters of family and subordination to power correspond to the interests of the state.

Transcript of the court session in the Kirovsky District Court of Kazan dated 07.12.2023 in the case 1-131/2023 on charges of Alexey Anatolyevich Gerasimov of committing a crime under Part 1 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Gerasimov Alexey Anatolyevich:

First of all, I want to thank you, dear Anna Olegovna, for listening attentively to me and my lawyer throughout the trial and trying to get to the heart of the matter, the essence of the case. Thank you for allowing the hearings to be open, so many people came, could be present and support me and my dear wife. By the way, thank you, our dear friends, for our support!

Thanks to the secretary, who was always so friendly and skillfully managed the player on the computer to listen to the files of this criminal case.

I would also like to thank my defender, Elena Valeryevna, for the fact that, as many of my friends noticed, you defended not for show, but showing sincere concern and diligence.

At the debate, we heard how long the prosecution had requested — 8 years in prison. Please note: for the murder of a person, the minimum sentence under Article 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is 6 years. He is appointed if the murder is qualified under part 1 of Article 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation — that is, if the crime was committed without any aggravating signs or, conversely, with mitigating circumstances. Six years for murder is even less than the prosecution requested for me! But human life and health are recognized by the state as the highest value. That is why murder, that is, the deliberate taking of another person's life, is considered the most serious crime.

The law treats murderers extremely harshly, which affects the measure of punishment, whereas in my case there is not a single victim, which is confirmed by the case materials and the testimony of witnesses. During the entire trial, the prosecution did not indicate where, when, or in the presence of any persons I said or did anything to incriminate me with an extremist article. It is also unclear about which documents allegedly seized from me confirming my guilt, Ms. Prosecutor said at the debate. However, both at the last meeting and at this one, there are so many bailiffs in the hall, as if I were an inveterate repeat offender.

In the last word, I will not focus on all the points of the criminal case that I disagree with, we generally did this at previous meetings. I want to focus on just one point. The indictment says, among other things, I quote: "He called on followers of the doctrine to break off kinship and family relations with persons who are not members of the community." Or on another sheet of the conclusion in the testimony of a classified witness it says: "To achieve their goals, they do not deny the possibility of destroying their family and betraying their relatives, putting the interests of the organization above them," and also "having children is considered a "bad" act." That is, to summarize, I and other Jehovah's Witnesses do not appreciate such a device as a family, and are ready to easily part with it for the sake of their God. However, all these are unfounded accusations, because if we did this, we would be the first criminals in the eyes of God, because the family is not something that was once invented by man, it is a device conceived by God. In the Bible, in Ephesians 3, verses 14 and 15, it says: "For this reason, I kneel before the Father, from Whom every family on earth and in heaven got its name." Therefore, how can we trample on what was founded by God himself?

And how do Jehovah's Witnesses treat children? When God Jehovah created the first two people on earth, he gave them a task that is recorded in the Bible, in Genesis, chapter 1, verse 28: "And God blessed them, and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and possess it." In another way, the human family is the way in which God decided to fulfill his plan — to fill the earth with people, and obedient people, creating a family and giving birth to children, cooperated with him in this matter. Therefore, many Jehovah's Witnesses create strong families and some give birth to many children. For example, I have a friend in Kazan who has four children, a very close-knit family, or in Siberia there are very good friends, also Jehovah's Witnesses, who gave birth to 7 of their children, but did not stop there and adopted four more.

By the way, Russian President Vladimir Putin presented Valery and Tatiana Novik with the Order of Parental Glory at a meeting in the Kremlin on May 31, 2017. This order is awarded to parents with many children who set an example in strengthening the institution of the family and raising children, form a socially responsible family, lead a healthy lifestyle, ensure the full and harmonious development of children's personality, a high level of care for their health, education, physical, spiritual and moral development. This family is also Jehovah's Witnesses. Six of the eight Novikov children attended the award ceremony.

And so far, the President of Russia, so to speak, cooperates with God on the issue of family. For example, official sources, including the RBC newspaper, report that Putin declared 2024 the year of the family in Russia. The newspaper outlined the goals of this decision: "The President of Russia has repeatedly stated that Russia has an extremely difficult demographic situation. His press secretary Dmitry Peskov reported that a number of measures are being used to encourage the population to increase the birth rate, but so far these measures have not produced the desired result."

The examples I have given above prove that the views of Jehovah's Witnesses correspond to the interests of the State in family matters. Well, the fact that my wife and I do not have children yet does not mean that we do not want or love them. We are sure that we will still have them, because we really appreciate the family structure and have been trying every day for almost 20 years to strengthen our family union, as the Creator of the family wishes.

I also want to briefly talk about the relationship of Jehovah's Witnesses with the law and government. The respected court has certainly seen throughout the entire process that Jehovah's Witnesses are obedient to God and his Word, the Bible. And that is precisely why they obey the laws of the country in which they live. In the Bible, in the Epistle to the Romans, the 13th chapter, the 1st verse says: "Let every soul be submissive to higher authorities, for there is no authority not from God; the existing authorities are established from God." And in the 3rd and 4th verses of the same chapter it says: "For the rulers are not terrible for good deeds, but for evil ones. Do you want not to be afraid of power? Do good, and you will receive praise from her, for the boss is God's servant, for your good. But if you do evil, be afraid, for he does not wear a sword in vain: he is God's servant, the avenger of punishment for those who do evil."

The Bible says that public authorities perform important functions, maintaining order to some extent and providing necessary services. We show respect to these authorities if we comply with the laws. We make sure to pay all necessary taxes, fill out the forms and documents that the state may require from us correctly, and comply with any laws concerning us, our family, work or property.

Dig into the history and make sure that Jehovah's Witnesses never participated in rallies, demonstrations or pickets and in no other way expressed displeasure with the existing government. And if I personally went against the state power, then, in fact, I would rebel against the power of Jehovah God himself, and for me this is unthinkable.

In the end, I want to briefly retell some of the words of my defender that she uttered at the debate, I liked this idea very much and you can't say it better: "The purpose of the prosecution is punishment, and the purpose of punishment is correction. What should Gerasimov be punished for and how should he improve?"

I fully agree with this statement of the defender and therefore I ask you to fully acquit me, and I ask you to attach the last word to the case file.

Summary of the case

Region:

Tatarstan

Locality:

Kazan

What is suspected of:

"Involved individual residents of Kazan" in religious activities, as well as "made decisions on gathering members and finding accomplices in ideological propaganda", "gave lectures and showed videos promoting the ideas of the religious organization "Jehovah's Witnesses""

Criminal case number:

12202920022000012

Initiated:

February 10, 2022

The current stage of the case: The

appeal

Is being investigated

by the SU IC of the Russian Federation for the Republic of Tatarstan

Articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation:

282.2 (1)

Case number in court:

1-131/2023

The Court of First Instance:

Kirovsky district Court of Kazan

Judge of the Court of first instance:

Anna Kryuchenkova