The last word of the defendant Alexey Arkhipov in Shuya

RUSSIA

 

The last word of the defendant Alexey Arkhipov in Shuya

January 24, 2024

Ivanovo region

In his address to the court, the believer asked: "But what about my constitutional right to profess the faith of Jehovah's Witnesses, which is not prohibited in our state? How to believe in God so as not to be criminally prosecuted?"

Transcript of the court session in the Shuisky city Court of the Ivanovo region dated 01/24/2024 in the case 1-1/2024 (1-2/2023; 1-138/2022) according to the accusation of Alexey Albertovich Arkhipov and others. of committing a crime under Part 2 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Arkhipov Alexey Albertovich:

Dear Court, Your Honor! At the beginning of my last word, I want to thank you, Anton Alexandrovich, for your attentive and respectful attitude, for trying to delve into all the details, subtleties and understand throughout the whole process. It is clear that you are not biased, and this gives hope for a fair solution in this difficult case against me and the other defendants.

I also want to thank the prosecution, Alexey Nikolaevich, for the fact that during the first court session, at our request, you began to pronounce the name of God correctly. I see that you have no prejudice or negativity towards me personally, nor towards the other defendants, nor towards the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses. Also, many thanks to the secretary Angela Andreevna for her tact and politeness.

I want to thank the lawyers, and especially my lawyer, Tatyana Nikolaevna Abozina. Thank you for being able to ask for help and advice at any time during the entire investigation, and then during the court sessions. Thank you for your support, empathy, as well as for good, necessary and such important advice. You have done everything in your power to help me defend my good name and the right to my religion.

I am very grateful to my wonderful and beloved wife Natasha. Throughout our life together, as well as during investigative actions and a long trial, she is always there and knows what I need and what I need. She always gives love, respect and support. Going to the investigating authorities, going to the courts and waiting for the verdict, knowing that you are innocent of anything, is not easy, and the encouragement and support of a loving wife is very important. We spend all our time together, supporting each other both in joy and in difficult moments. I'm happy that I met her. It will soon be 40 years of our life together, and I hope that on this date we will also be together. And this is what the Bible says about her, in Proverbs 31:10: "Who will find a virtuous wife? Its price is higher than pearls!"

I also want to express my gratitude to our co—religionists - spiritual brothers, sisters, and friends. For the fact that at any time of the year, in heat and cold, they come to support and encourage us before the court, attend meetings and do not leave us after. Thank you for their prayers, which help us not to get discouraged and despair from the injustice that is being done to us.

Your Honor, I never thought that I would have to stand in a courtroom and speak the last word in my defense. I didn't think I'd ever be a defendant. Moreover, I never had the thought that I would be accused of such a serious article as extremism. I recently heard this quote: "If you live according to the Gospel, truly, honestly, you will be crucified in a week." So it is with me: as soon as I picked up the Bible, studied it and lived according to the laws of God and his son Jesus Christ, I became an extremist at the suggestion of the investigative authorities. In fact, accusing me as a Jehovah's Witness of extremism is absurd.

I have repeatedly stated that I have never set goals for myself that could lead to the consequences imputed to me in the accusation. My legitimate and non-forbidden beliefs are based on the Biblical commandments. One of them says: "Let every soul be submissive to the highest authorities, for there is no power not from God… Therefore, he who opposes authority opposes God's establishment." Consequently, I have never had any desire to harm the state, including the constitutional system, in my thoughts. Moreover, my respect for the state and the authorities and faith in God do not even allow me to think about something like this.

Your Honor, you have closely followed the progress of the case in court sessions, and it may have already become obvious to you that I did not say or do anything that could relate to extremism. I have never called for or justified hatred of people based on their religion or nationality. In fact, the evidence that was collected against me by the investigation and voiced here at court sessions suggests that I am a Jehovah's Witness, that I met with my co-religionists, discussed the Bible, sang songs of praise to the Almighty Creator, the only and living God Jehovah, prayed for mercy, compassion and love for people regardless of their religion or nationality.

Do all these actions constitute a crime under the article presented to me? “no. I was simply exercising my right, given to me by article 28 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, which states that everyone has the right "to freely choose, have and disseminate religious and other beliefs and act in accordance with them." This right applies to all believers of all views and beliefs, including Jehovah's Witnesses. No court in Russia has ever recognized the religion or beliefs of Jehovah's Witnesses as criminal. Such a decision would be discriminatory and unconstitutional.

The same right was confirmed at the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation on October 28, 2021, which ruled that the worship of Jehovah's Witnesses, their joint conduct of rituals and ceremonies in themselves do not constitute a crime under Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, despite the liquidation of their legal entities.

I am a believer and I was guided by what the Creator tells us, and it is written in the Bible.: "let us not forsake our congregation" (Hebrews 10:25), "be one" (1 Corinthians 1:10), "love one another" (John 13:34). And how can this be accomplished if we do not gather together, do not communicate, do not study and do not delve into the Word of God? Getting together is as much a commandment of God as any other. If we love God, we keep all his commandments, not just the ones we like.

Moreover, the commandments about love and unity among Christians are needed first of all by ourselves. We need communication and mutual support ourselves. Through communication, we can rejoice together and be a mutual encouragement to each other in difficult moments. And if Christians come together to worship God, whose name is Jehovah, and this name is given to us in the Bible, then they should not immediately be accused of organizing or continuing the activities of any legal entity. It is as if the fishermen, after the closure of the enterprise, decided to get together and talk about fishing, and they were equated with the creation or resumption of activities of a fishing company with a legal address.

The resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of Russia dated June 28, 2011 No. 11 "On judicial practice in criminal cases of extremist crimes" clearly states: "The crime provided for in Article 282 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is committed only with direct intent and with the aim of inciting hatred or enmity, as well as humiliating the dignity of a person or a group of persons on the grounds of gender, race, nationality, language, origin, attitude to religion, belonging to any social group." None of the above, which directly or indirectly relates to extremism, as well as other illegal actions, occurred at the divine services on January 25 and February 1, 2018, which I attended as a believer. And the same thing is confirmed by linguistic expertise. The purpose of these meetings with co-religionists was the worship of Jehovah God, Bible study, mutual support and encouragement. The motives were the most peaceful and pure. And in the prayers that I said, there were only words about love, mercy and compassion for people, regardless of their nation and religion.

I want to ask: what about my constitutional right to profess the faith of Jehovah's Witnesses, which, I repeat, is not prohibited in our state? How to believe in God so as not to be criminally prosecuted? Should I stop communicating with other believers? Is it necessary to abandon joint worship services? Or is it necessary to write a renunciation of faith at all? Who can tell me what to do in order to remain a sincere believer and not to be branded an extremist? After all, this is exactly what the investigation and the state prosecution charge me, based on Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

I suggest you take a look at the Criminal Code itself. It says that one of the main signs of a crime under Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is incitement to hatred or enmity. "The absence of this goal precludes criminal prosecution under this article," is the statement of the Prosecutor General's Office dated September 21, 2018 No. 602/27 "On strengthening prosecutor's supervision over the implementation of laws in the identification, suppression, disclosure and investigation of extremist crimes."

To put it bluntly, was there hostility and hatred in my actions, were there calls for violence and the like? No, no, and no again! For me, such actions are unacceptable because I am a Christian, guided and following the norms of morality and behavior given to us by God in his Word of the Bible.

What are these norms? "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with your mind" (Matthew 22:37). "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 22:39). "Respect authority" (Romans 13:1). "Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and follow it" (Psalm 33:15). "A husband must love his wife" (Ephesians 5:28). "From now on, do not leave meetings together" (Hebrews 10:25). "Read the Bible and meditate day and night" (Psalm 1:2). "Treat people the way you want them to treat you" (Matthew 7:12). Such instructions can in no way contain signs of extremism.

Those who know me well know that I have lived, live and will live according to these moral norms and principles. I want to emphasize that even the employees of the investigation bodies told me directly that they did not know what I had done wrong and did not consider me a criminal. And one of them said, "I hate doing this."

I declare responsibly: my whole life and my behavior in society give me the right to declare that I have never had and do not have any intention to carry out extremist activities, as I have not had and do not have enmity or hatred towards anyone. I do not understand how my personal religion and service to God, as well as meeting with friends and fellow believers, could be interpreted by the investigation as the resumption of the activities of an extremist organization. I hope that the majority of those present at these court sessions also see that there is a substitution of concepts and that my faith, my religion as an individual is exposed by the investigation as the activity of a prohibited legal entity.

Your Honor, during these long court sessions and impartial research of the materials of the criminal case on your part, you were able to make sure that I could not be an extremist in any way, that I did not commit any crimes that are imputed to me by the state prosecutor. I ask you, Your Honor, to correct this monstrous mistake, make a fair decision and fully acquit me. I ask you to attach my last word to the materials of the criminal case.

Summary of the case

Region:

Ivanovo region

Locality:

Shuya

What is suspected of:

According to investigators, he participated in divine services, which is interpreted as participation and financing of the activities of an "extremist organization" (with reference to the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation on the liquidation of all 396 registered organizations of Jehovah's Witnesses)

Criminal case number:

11802240009000024

Initiated:

April 19, 2018

The current stage of the case:

Appeal

Is being investigated by:

The SU IC of the Russian Federation for the Ivanovo region

Articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation:

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

The number of the case in court:

1-1/2024 (1-2/2023; 1-138/2022)

Court:

Shuisky City Court of the Ivanovo region

Judge of the Court of first instance:

Anton Mokin