The last word of the defendant Yevgeny Kayryak in Surgut

 RUSSIA 

 

The last word of the defendant Yevgeny Kayryak in Surgut

November 13, 2023

Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug

The believer told the court about the peacefulness of Jehovah's Witnesses and recalled how history has repeatedly proved that they are not guilty of what they are accused of. He expressed hope for an acquittal, as he wants to "return again ... to a calm, quiet Christian life."

Transcript of the court session in the Surgut City Court dated 11/13/2023 in the case № 1-27/2023 (1-130/2022; 1-1348/2021) according to the accusation of Evgeny Nikolaevich Kayryak and others. of committing a crime under Part 1 of Article 282.2 and Part 1 of Article 282.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Kayryak Evgeny Nikolaevich:

Dear court, dear participants in the process! First of all, I would like to note that I have always enjoyed participating in all court sessions, starting with the processes of election and extension of preventive measures, seizure of property in the first, appellate and cassation instances. Perhaps only with the exception of the very first court to choose a preventive measure for me, since at that time I was surprised by what was happening and did not understand what was happening at all and what the reasons for the sudden detention were. But why do I say that, what did I like? Because when I realized that I needed to defend myself in the courts, I wanted to convey the truth to everyone who listened to me in the courts, not only to the presiding judges, but also to assistant judges, assistant prosecutors, investigators, defenders and bailiffs.

I remember how at one of the appeal courts in Khanty-Mansiysk, when the issue was being resolved, if I am not mistaken, on appealing the legality of the search permit, I conveyed in the debate and the last word how respectfully Jehovah's Witnesses treat the authorities, and other thoughts. When I spoke, my wife, who was in the courtroom at the meeting, saw the reaction of a court employee (an assistant judge), how she listened to me attentively and respectfully. The bailiff, who was in the hall, also listened attentively to me, nodding his head. At first, my wife thought that he was thinking about something of his own, but later, when we left the courtroom, the bailiff smiled broadly at me and showed me a thumbs-up gesture of approval. We understood each other. At that moment, it made me very happy and inspired. I realized that my words are not spoken in vain, and caring people with sincere hearts will surely understand and see the honesty and sincerity of Jehovah's Witnesses. As I saw that day, at least two wonderful people were able to see who Jehovah's Witnesses really are. Why do I say "at least"? Because I can only evaluate by external signs, and I cannot see the symbolic heart of a person, as Jesus Christ saw, so perhaps more people took my words to their hearts that day.

I always tried to participate in all meetings personally, including when traveling to Khanty-Mansiysk, although I had the right not to personally attend and let everything take its course. But it was important for me not only to protect my good name, my reputation, but also to give some testimony about who Jehovah's Witnesses are, to show the truth to people listening to me, who may have prejudices ingrained in their minds and hearts or simply were not familiar with such believers.

Your Honor, I am very grateful to you personally for changing the preventive measure for me and Sergey Loginov at the preliminary hearing in the fall of 2021. I was very pleased. My rights were restored by a respected court to the extent possible at that time. And I remember how we all applauded you together — all the defendants. It was spontaneous and speaks to the sincerity of our reaction. I was very glad, because from that moment on I had the right to exercise my protection together with my dear brothers and sister, my co-religionists, and I was able to start communicating with them. In legal terms, to build a single line of defense. I am sure that this contributes to the objective consideration of this criminal case.

Your Honor, I still hope today that I will experience the same emotions and even much greater ones on the day of the verdict. And although it can be very tedious to constantly justify oneself to others, the Holy Scriptures say that God's servants should be ready to defend their faith if someone demands an explanation from them. At the same time, I want to do it naturally and not under the yoke of possible punishment. But since we are in court, then here, according to this biblical admonition, I need to speak up for my faith. I hope that my co-religionists and I have managed to give an objective idea of who Jehovah's Witnesses are. Many years have passed since the beginning of the criminal prosecution to this day, a whole period of life, and of course, I want to return, as I mentioned in one of the conversations (believers pray about this), to a calm, quiet Christian life.

I am also, of course, grateful to all the defenders, grateful for the active participation of Tamila Nazimovna, Vadim Yuryevich, who recently entered our case and has already managed to get to know believers, and of course, Anton Sergeevich, who made a significant contribution to this trial, raised important issues, shortcomings and violations that neither in no case could it be missed and not considered.

Dear bailiffs in our case are no worse than bailiffs in the Court of Appeal of Khanty-Mansiysk. They also show us respect. Thank you! I am grateful to the respected state prosecutors for the opportunity to speak out in defense of my faith, without their work this would not have happened.

But my greatest gratitude is to my God Jehovah. He gives his holy spirit to those who ask of him. He also promised, in modern terms, to rehabilitate all his servants and compensate them a hundred times for the damage caused to them both in this system of things today, along with persecution, and in the future, in a righteous new world, but for now, to represent him in court.

This trial has become an important part of my life, and thanks to this trial, I also had the opportunity to see and shake hands with decent people I could only hear about before. For example, I had the opportunity to personally see and shake hands with Mikhail Odintsovo, who was invited as a specialist to our process. The fact is that since the beginning of the criminal case in 2019, I have read several books — autobiographies of my brothers, Jehovah's Witnesses who lived in the Soviet Union and were criminally prosecuted at that time, for example, Sergei Ravlyuk and others. Some of them have served three terms in their lives, some for 25 years in total, one family has had 15 searches in their lifetime. Mikhail Odintsovo worked in the archives, as he himself showed in court, he compiled and published a collection of declassified documents of the Soviet period called "The Council of Ministers of the USSR decides where it was indicated: "Evict forever." This phrase is just taken from official, previously secret, documents. I even used some of the thoughts from this collection, this book, in my speeches in the courts in which I participated during the preliminary investigation. So we can conclude that there is also a benefit from our process in the form of excellent acquaintances, and this is only the "tip of the iceberg". Many benefits will be discovered in the future.

Persecution of Jehovah's servants in the modern world is not uncommon. In the past, in America and other Western countries, Jehovah's Witnesses were called communists, and in countries where communism prevailed, imperialists, because they took a neutral position with regard to politics, military operations and other things. History has repeatedly proved that Jehovah's Witnesses are not guilty of what they are accused of. Today in Russia they have become known as extremists. But the essence remains the same — to call them criminals, punish them and even try to fix them. The authorities even tried to carry out their plans using the phrase "evict forever." But what has history shown, has this call, and even this order, been realized? Obviously not. But why? This is how the answer to this question sounds, recorded in the book of Isaiah 54:17 in the translation of Macarius and Paul: "Every tool made to harm you will be powerless; and every tongue that will sue you, you will convict of injustice. This is the inheritance of Jehovah's servants, and their righteousness is from Me, says Jehovah."

But if a person is brought to court, accused and called a criminal, then is he really guilty?! This is how it usually happens, and that's what outside observers might think. But Proverbs 18:17 says, "Whoever speaks first in court seems to be right until his opponent comes and starts asking him questions." We, the defendants, were not the first to come to court with the lawsuit, but we were brought, a long accusation was read to us, twice to me. But what happened next? And then we began to consider this case, to conduct a judicial investigation. And by the way, I like this phrase "judicial investigation". This means that in court we have to figure out who is right and who is wrong.

The second party, who was brought to trial, began to ask questions first. And we can all verify the truth of the words written in this verse. The opponent comes and breaks all the false accusations. Moreover, I believe that both in the legal field and in the spiritual field, the defense side has won. And this victory is not related to the outcome of the case, to the final decision. One day Jesus Christ said to his disciples: "Troubles await you in the world, but be courageous! I have conquered the world." And he said this, knowing that soon he would be alone, and that he would be captured and executed. But at the same time, Jesus also said that he would not be alone, because his Father was with him. We, the defendants, are in a similar position, we are not alone, and we are not abandoned by our God and Father.

Dear court, I want to recall one of the audio recordings available in the case file, I don't remember exactly now, maybe the first or second meeting with Mironov in Pavel Romashov's car. Mironov and I remembered mutual acquaintances, including the previously murdered Anton Tishkov. I also mentioned that he has hope of resurrection, even though he has never been a Jehovah's Witness, which also confirms that Jehovah's Witnesses do not teach that only they will be saved. Anton and I studied together for a short time in the 7th grade at Surgut Secondary School No. 44. He was my age, a little over a year older than me, used to live next door to him in the village of Kedrovoye until 1997 and then in the 32nd microdistrict in the same house. I even have a shared photo of the class.

In the area of the village of Cherny Mys, the high-profile murder of Anton Tishkov took place, it happened on Saturday, May 2, 2009. The high-profile crime was widely covered in the media in our city at that time, it was also reported that the investigation had reached an impasse, and the accused had stipulated himself. Perhaps, for some of the participants in our process, this is even familiar from their professional activities. There was a clash between the two sides, who met to clarify relations, there was a mass brawl involving about 100 people, firearms and edged weapons were mentioned. The events from the news about that day were well remembered by me, and then I periodically recalled and compared in my mind what happened with Anton and where I was that day. On that day off, a congress was held in Surgut in the Kingdom Hall, where I was present. And it was my religion, my participation in divine services that potentially saved me and prevented me from close communication and friendship with those who sought to participate in various groups, considering it a cool way of life.

And as practice shows, neither family, nor school, nor sports have been able to fully teach many young people to reason and do the right thing, to be wise. On the same day — Saturday, May 2, 2009 — I, who today is called by the state prosecution a dangerous criminal, an extremist, was at the congress, listening to biblical speeches, learning love for others, and Anton [Tishkov], who, unfortunately, was with a group of young guys, participated in a showdown with another the group died because of this. I am very sorry for him and his parents, who lost their son so early.

And again, time has shown how God's teaching affects a person. The Scripture says that it makes a fool wise. And by the way, Alexey Mironov knew many of them very well, communicated closely, and as he himself said in conversations with us, lived a similar life associated with crime, while jokingly, ironically, leaving the apartment after divine services, he called peaceful believers, Jehovah's Witnesses, a "gang". We didn't pay much attention to it then, but today it only makes us smile. And in the report, Anton Tishkov's mother holds a photo of 6 guys in her hands. Besides Anton, Alexey Mironov is visible on it. And the parents say that none of them helped their son Anton that day, although they called Anton "bro". From the words of Anton's mother, I had a question, where was Alexey Mironov on the day of the mass brawl? I do not know, I will not speculate. Yes, this does not apply to our case, and these are the cases of bygone days. But it is also important for the court to characterize not only the defendants, but also the witnesses in the case. Dear court, this man, whose reputation speaks for itself, calls me and my co-religionists criminals and a "gang". Well, enough about him.

Dear Court, I want to touch on the important topic of citizenship. We were brought before the court as citizens of the Russian Federation (if only with the exception of Vasily Burenescu) who legally reside on its territory. Does our citizenship, the citizenship of the Russian Federation, have any weight, that is, value? Why am I asking this? It is no secret that many modern states are guided in one way or another by Roman law, by the provisions and principles laid down more than 2 thousand years ago in the Roman Empire. The valuable concepts of citizenship, democracy and other fundamental concepts of the modern world, laid down in ancient times, have weight to this day, and moreover are protected by the state, including Russia.

In the Bible, the words "citizen" and "citizenship" are found in Christian Greek Writings. Roman citizenship could be obtained in various ways. For example, someone inherited it. Probably, in some cases, Roman citizenship could be bought. The military commander Claudius Lysias told the Apostle Paul: "I acquired this citizenship for a lot of money." To this Paul replied, "But I have had it since birth" (Acts 22:28). It must have been one of Paul's male ancestors who received Roman citizenship, although it is not known under what circumstances. In the 1st century A.D. There were few Roman citizens in Judea. It was only in the III century A.D. that all residents of the provinces received Roman citizenship.

Roman citizenship gave a person special rights and benefits that were recognized and respected throughout the empire. For example, there was the right to appeal the decisions of the provincial rulers by sending their case to the emperor in Rome. Also, very importantly, it was illegal to torture or scourge a Roman citizen in order to extract a confession from him. It was against the law to bind or beat an unconvicted Roman citizen. Only slaves could be treated this way. These forms of punishment were considered extremely humiliating. When Roman soldiers rescued Paul from a crowd of Jews in Jerusalem, he kept silent about his Roman citizenship. But when they were going to scourge him, that is, to whip him, he said to the centurion standing next to him: "Are you allowed to scourge a Roman citizen, and without a trial?" The Bible goes on to say: "When the centurion heard this, he came up and informed the commander of the thousand, saying: "What do you want to do? After all, this man is a Roman citizen." When everything became clear, "then those who wanted to torture him immediately retreated from him," and "the commander of the thousand, learning that he was a Roman citizen, was afraid that he had tied him up" (Acts 21:27-39; 22:25-29).

And in another case, when Paul and Silas were unjustly severely beaten for preaching and thrown into prison, and "when the day came, the governors sent city ministers to say: let those people go. The prison guard announced this to Paul: the commanders have sent to release you; so now leave and go in peace. But Paul said to them: We Roman citizens were publicly beaten and thrown into prison without trial, and now they are secretly releasing us? No, let them come and take us out themselves. The city officials told these words to the governors, and they were afraid when they heard that these were Roman citizens, and came, apologized to them and, having brought them out, asked them to leave the city."

Dear court, I want to ask a question: and today our Russian citizenship is valued in the same way as Roman citizenship used to be in the Roman Empire? Do government officials treat citizens with Russian citizenship in the same responsible way? Is it legal to beat, torture, or use illegal methods of inquiry against an unconvicted person? According to Russian law, it is not permissible to treat a convicted person, and even more so to suspects and witnesses in the case. At least they apologized to those who were illegally scourged and beaten by Roman citizens out of fear. And in front of us, as Russian citizens, law enforcement officers did not apologize, but moreover, in a report on television they said that we were lying, slandered us in addition. If we turn a blind eye to all this, what will we come to next?

Yes, we are simple people and have the same feelings as the rest. And we are also subject to fear, but you know, as it says in Isaiah 41:10: "Do not be afraid, because I am with you. Don't worry, because I'm your God. I will strengthen you, help you, and hold you tightly with my right hand." And you know, being convinced of the support of our God Jehovah and loving him casts out fear. A person should not be afraid of another person, but of God.

In his letters, the Apostle Paul also spoke about spiritual citizenship. He said that the uncircumcised Gentiles who became spiritual Israelites had previously been without Christ and without God, alienated from Israel, strangers to agreements, without hope, and now found themselves "in unity with Christ Jesus." The Apostle Paul continued: "So you are no longer strangers ... but fellow citizens of the saints and your own to God" (Ephesians 2:12, 13, 19). Paul's words are particularly noteworthy: "And our citizenship is in heaven," which he wrote to Christians in Philippi, a city that had been granted Roman citizenship and in which the rights of the apostle as a Roman citizen had been violated ten years earlier (Philippians 3:20). In the same letter, Paul encouraged his co-religionists: "Act worthy of the good news." The word "act" translates the form of the Greek word polytheomai, which literally means "to behave like a citizen" (Philippians 1:27).

Those servants of Jehovah who have earthly hope are the future subjects of the heavenly government that will govern the entire earth. And by raising a hand against any of Jehovah's servants, we can say that a hand is being raised not only against a Russian citizen, but also against a citizen of the future new world, over which Jesus Christ will become ruler. What happens if a diplomat is unfairly persecuted in a foreign country? His home State may express a note of discontent or even take more serious measures to protect its ambassadors and other citizens of its country. How do you think Jehovah God feels when his servants are harmed? The book of Zechariah 2:8 says, "Thus says Jehovah, the God of hosts..."Whoever touches you touches the pupil of my eye."

History shows that those who persecuted Christians earlier are now in oblivion, but those who were persecuted, who were persecuted, have taken an honorable place in history, in the hearts of future generations and in high esteem with the Creator. Would we know today such a Roman citizen and Pharisee as Saul of Tarsus, if he had not stopped persecuting Christians at the time and would not have become the holy Apostle Paul due to the fact that he corrected himself after being admonished in a vision from Jesus Christ? Of course not, he would have remained one of the Pharisees, whose name would not have reached us. He would have been forgotten, and perhaps forever. Therefore, today everyone has the opportunity to follow the example of the Apostle Paul and stand up for the persecuted from the category of persecutors. Then his name will be inscribed in history, and, more importantly, in the "book of life".

Dear court, the state prosecution wants to take all the defendants into custody and put us all in jail, but what will happen in society if we are deprived of our freedom? Will it get better and safer? Or will it lose those who promote peace and avoid conflicts, work responsibly in production for the benefit of the residents of our city, lose full-fledged families and bring even more grief to relatives?

And although I will put a Bible in my bag in case I have to go to my cell instead of home after the verdict is announced, I still hope that on that day I will read this book at home as a Christian and a free citizen, and not in a prison cell as a criminal. I really hope, Your Honor, that you will not allow our families to suffer any more.

It is always harder for the pioneers than for those who walk behind. I want to recall that in our district, in the city of Yugorsk, in the summer of this year, our co-religionists, Jehovah's Witnesses, were acquitted of the same articles on extremism. The prosecution requested 8 and 9 years of real time for them. An appeal hearing will be held in the near future, and we hope that the verdict will stand and be confirmed. In another city of our district, in the city of Urai, the court handed down, although not an acquittal, but at least a fine, to our brother in faith under the same article. In fairness, it should be noted that the state prosecution in Urai requested a fine…

I mentioned the pioneers. In this sense, in our business, in my layman's opinion, it is a little simpler, we have an example in front of our eyes. And in this sense, our court will not be an exception if it does the same.

Summary of the case

Region:

Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug

Locality:

Surgut

What is suspected of:

"He gave speeches, participated in a preaching service with local Jehovah's Witnesses, held meetings with "pioneers", "elders" and "office assistants", including in order to organize the activities of "elders" in the "assembly""Take-off"".

Criminal case number:

42002007709000023

Initiated:

February 11, 2019

Current stage of the case:

Proceedings in the court of first instance

Investigates:

SO in Surgut, the SU IC of the Russian Federation in the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug

Articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation:

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

The number of the case in court:

№ 1-27/2023 (1-130/2022; 1-1348/2021)

The Court:

Surgut City Court

Judge:

Dmitry Lupin