The last word of the defendant Sergei Kosyanenko in Akhtubinsk

 RUSSIA

The last word of the defendant Sergei Kosyanenko in Akhtubinsk

April 12, 2023

Astrakhan region

From the courtroom

Addressing the court, the believer remarked: "Our trial reminded me not only of the trial of Christ, but also of the courts of the Soviet Union, which sent Jehovah's Witnesses for reading the Bible, praying and singing religious songs to correctional labor institutions."

Transcript of the court session in the Akhtuba District Court of the Astrakhan region dated 04/12/2023 in case No. 1-9/2023 (1-342/2022) on charges of Kosyanenko Sergey Ivanovich 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.

Kosyanenko Sergey Ivanovich:

Your Honor, thank you for the opportunity to address the court once again. I also want to thank you for your hard work. Having come across justice so closely for the first time, I saw that you have a very hard and responsible job.

I would like to thank the representatives of the prosecution for keeping order and observing the laws in our country. Our life would be much worse without you.

I would like to thank all the lawyers who took part in our trial for their conscientiousness and efforts. To you, Yulia Vladimirovna and Maxim Vyacheslavovich, special thanks for your high professionalism and the efforts and sacrifices you made to protect me.

I would like to thank the secretary and the assistant judge for their hard work and responsiveness. There was no case when he did not answer our questions and did not provide all possible assistance. Special thanks to our personal guards and bailiffs of the court. Now I will tell my grandchildren that my security was no worse than that of the President of Russia.

Also, many thanks to everyone who supported me during these year and a half. Thank you for traveling many kilometers to be present in the hall, leaving personal matters, and wasting valuable time. Thanks for the letters! I received about 3,000 of them from 58 countries and 67 regions of Russia.

And, of course, many thanks to my family: my wife Ole, my daughter Gale, my granddaughter Alla, my son Alexey, another daughter Ole [daughter—in-law - Ed.] and Radomirchik's grandson for their love and warm support.

All this time, I felt the care and love of another Person — my God Jehovah, so I want to publicly thank him too!

Your Honor, during this process, I have noticed that you have a deep respect for the Bible. You have always listened attentively to the quotations from this great book and never interrupted your reading. In my last word, I want to draw your attention to one court that strongly reminds me of our trial. That trial took place 2,000 years ago in Jerusalem, and it is recorded in the Bible, in all four Gospels. They tried a fairly young man, at least compared to me. They charged him, in fact, with extremism, and the charges were very similar to ours. For example, when the judge asked, "What are you accusing him of?", the accusers said, "If he were not a villain, we would not have betrayed him to you" (John 18:30). As it reminds me of the courts for the extension of my detention.

Of course, you have guessed who we are talking about — Jesus Christ. This greatest man who ever lived on earth was executed because of the incitement of the religious leaders of that time. They accused him of outraging the people and going against the government.

[...] Your Honor, our trial reminded me not only of the trial of Christ, but also of the courts of the Soviet Union, which sent Jehovah's Witnesses for reading the Bible, praying and singing religious songs to correctional labor institutions for ten years or more. Subsequently, the whole world recognized that the trial of Jesus Christ was unfair. And Jehovah's Witnesses who served their sentences in the USSR were recognized as victims of political repression and given appropriate certificates.

I want to briefly tell you about one such person. If he were alive, I think he would certainly have come to our trial and personally testified. It was he who conducted the first Bible studies in the city of Znamensk in the distant 1990s. This man has a wonderful family. I am so grateful to the prosecutor that he emphatically read one of my letters, where I spoke warmly about this man and his family, because his daughter was present in the courtroom that day.

So how did Jehovah's Witnesses get into a closed administrative-territorial entity? Very simple. Alexander — that was the name of this man — had a certificate of a victim of political repression and was a third-generation Jehovah's Witness. He worked as a road worker. Their team was assigned to repair roads in BUT Znamensk. On a business trip, in his spare time, Alexander told the residents about God and his grandiose plan for people. As a result, a group of Jehovah's Witnesses appeared in Znamensk, to the creation of which, unfortunately, I have nothing to do.

Why did a simple hard worker manage to create a religious group? Personally, I believe the Bible's answer to this question. In 1 Corinthians 3:6, the apostle Paul, under the inspiration of God, wrote: "I planted, Apollos watered, but God raised it." Any Jehovah's Witness believes that behind his growth and the growth of any congregation is God Jehovah, the Creator of heaven and earth, as well as all the congregations of followers of his son Jesus Christ. So, dear court, it is my greatest honor to stand before you for my faith in all that I have just voiced.

One of the employees of the local IVS (by the way, many thanks to all the employees of this institution for their excellent attitude towards me and very good conditions of detention) once told me: "Sergey Ivanovich, you are a happy man! You are so loved!" And I completely agree with this young man. I am a very happy person! I may surprise you, Your Honor, but I consider this year and a half to be one of the best years of my life. No medal won can be compared to the feeling of joy that I feel from the realization that, like Jesus Christ and thousands of my brothers and sisters, I can show the strength of my faith in a real test.

While in prison, I realized that my God will never leave me, I can withstand any test with him, so I'm not particularly worried about the decision that you will make, Your Honor. It will go down in history and, sooner or later, either disgrace the Akhtuba District Court, as happened with Pilate and the Soviet courts, or glorify it, as happened in isolated cases in Russia in similar cases, where the judge took the liberty to acquit Jehovah's Witnesses. In any case, I trust your honesty and competence.

If I am still sent to prison, then I will consider your decision a new appointment from Jehovah. After all, Jehovah's Witnesses are not allowed in prisons, unlike representatives of other religions, and there are a lot of sincere people who need to be told about God and his grandiose plan to turn the whole earth into a paradise so that all people who truly believe in him can live indefinitely.

It will be a pity only one thing: that the grandchildren, whom I love very much, will grow up without a grandfather, but then no one and nothing will ever separate us, because in the Bible in Revelation John 21:4 it is written: "And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death; there will be no more crying, no more crying, no more sickness, for the former has passed away." These words are written in the Bible, which means they will definitely come true!

Summary of the case

Region:

Astrakhan region

Locality:

Akhtubinsk

What is suspected of:

According to the investigation, "meetings were organized... including through the use of videoconferencing ... namely in the form of a collective religious worship service, consisting of public playback of audio recordings and video recordings ... consistently performed songs from a special collection of the religious teachings of Jehovah's Witnesses and prayers to Jehovah God."

Criminal case number:

12102120006000100

Initiated:

November 9, 2021

Current stage of the case:

The verdict has entered into force

Investigating:

Akhtuba interdistrict Investigative Department of the SU IC of the Russian Federation in the Astrakhan region

Articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation:

282.2 (1), 282.3 (1)

Court case number:

1-9/2023 (1-342/2022)

Court of First Instance:

Akhtubinsky District Court of the Astrakhan region

Judge of the Court of first instance:

Anatoly Proskurin