The last word of the defendant Igor Popov in Irkutsk

 RUSSIA

 

The last word of the defendant Igor Popov in Irkutsk

January 25, 2024

Irkutsk region

In the last word, the believer expressed his bewilderment at the severity of the requested punishment for believing in God. He said: "The essence of my accusation can be expressed in a few words, which are in the indictment: "For singing spiritual songs, for praying to Jehovah God, and for discussing the texts of the Bible."

Transcript of the court session in the Oktyabrsky District Court of Irkutsk dated 01/25/2024 in the case 1-6/2024 (1-105/2023; 1-857/2022) on the charges of Igor Ivanovich Popov and others. of committing a crime under Part 1 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Popov Igor Ivanovich:

I want to start the last word by thanking all the participants in the process. To you, Your Honor, for allowing yourself to speak out, to defend yourself with dignity, for trying to create a respectful and working atmosphere in this hall. I would also like to thank Prosecutor Alexander Igorevich for your restraint, tact and for showing respect to us. It does you credit! I thank the Secretary of the court session for trying to take shorthand notes of our speeches. Perhaps sometimes we used some outdated words from Bible translations, which, perhaps, were not immediately understandable by ear. But you tried, it was obvious. Thank you so much for this! Thanks to our defenders for helping us all this time. We couldn't have done it without you. Your help has been invaluable to us! Thank you for fighting for us and continuing to do so.

I would like to express special gratitude to my dear wife, Mangirochka. Mangirochka, if it weren't for you, it would be much more difficult for me to bear all this. Thank you for the constant love and care you show me! I really, really love you! Always remember that.

Thanks to all my friends for always being my support — and those who are also in the dock, and outside it. You wrote letters, supported me, it's priceless! I love and respect you all.

To get to the last word, I would like to start it with a simple but important question. I had this question back in November 2021, when I was arrested. And when I heard the requested period — 6 years and 4 months — this question arose in front of me especially acutely. And with this question, I would like to address you first of all, Your Honor, because soon you will have to make a decision that will affect my life, my wife and all my loved ones. This question is: for what? For what 6 years and 4 months? To be honest, I still don't understand why.

When I was preparing for this performance, I remembered an incident that happened to me in this building. I was at the stage of extending the preventive measure and met two young people. It turned out that they killed a man, and they were given 4 years for it. I thought, if 4 years for murder, then why was I asked for 6 years and 4 months? The essence of my accusation can be expressed in a few words, which are in the indictment: "For singing spiritual songs, for praying to Jehovah God, and for discussing the texts of the Bible." To be honest, I can't get it into my head. And I began to think, so what is the reason for such a long period of time? Maybe because I didn't admit my guilt? At the preliminary investigation, some of my friends said that the investigator offered them to admit their guilt. He probably offered it to everyone. He said that then they would stay at home or on their own recognizance, and then there would be leniency in court, you would not go to the colony, you would not get a term. But I did not admit my guilt. Why? You know, if a person commits some real crime, then in order to admit guilt and show that he has embarked on the path of correction, he needs to take 4 steps: admit that he committed a crime, say that he regrets it, ask for forgiveness, because there are usually victims, and say that he is more such a crime will not be committed. This is how a person admits his guilt. But I can't do that, Your Honor, for several reasons.

I cannot admit that I have committed a crime. Have I committed any crime at all? In my testimony, I have already drawn attention to the fact that concepts are mixed up in our case. Have I resumed the activities of the MRO? I want to draw attention to some points once again. Have I resumed the activities of MRO Irkutsk. Central"? Obviously not. This was evident from the case materials, from my testimony, which was not refuted. Why? Firstly, as I have already emphasized in my testimony, until November 2021, that is, before the indictment, I did not know about the existence of the Irkutsk MRO at all. Central". I did not know that it ever existed at all, how it was established, who was one of the founders, I did not know at all. I did not even live in the Irkutsk region, so it is clear that I had nothing to do with this legal entity.

It is also unfounded to claim that allegedly I, along with other defendants, organized worship services for three and a half years — that is, from 2017 to October 2021. The case materials did not confirm this. I did not know any of the defendants until June 2021, and this is confirmed by the case materials. And as Denis Sarazhakov already said, I actually met him after 2 months in jail. We didn't know each other at all before that. Then what kind of organized group can we talk about? I didn't organize anything at all. And there is no confirmation of this in the case file.

What the prosecution calls a meeting of the MRO, those services that are recorded in the case file, are actually the worship of a group of believers. That is, these two concepts are simply confused. There is an MPO that dealt with economic issues, and there is a meeting — a group of believers who did not register, but simply gathered to worship God. We didn't pursue any other goals, so it wasn't an MPO meeting. This has never been related to the activities of legal entities.

And since we are accused of an extremist crime, motives play an important role. What were our motives for getting together? The indictment makes statements that I and others did this for extremist motives. I have already paid attention to this in my testimony and wanted to give an example. I once talked to a very old woman. Unfortunately, she is no longer alive. She told the story of her life, and, in particular, she talked about the period of time when any religion was banned in the USSR and when it was considered a crime to gather together to worship God. She was still a little girl, a teenager, and her parents were Lutherans. They quietly, without attracting attention, gathered together, prayed to God, sang Psalms, read and discussed something from the Bible. If we look at it now from our modern point of view, then we understand that they were not criminals. Their goal was not to commit some kind of crime against the state. This did not make them any kind of extremists dangerous to the state. We understand that these are just believers, and they were motivated by their conscience, their desire to satisfy their spiritual needs to worship God. That's all.

When we got together, we were motivated by the same motives. Not extremist motives, not criminal motives, but the desire to worship our God Jehovah, to satisfy their spiritual needs. That is, we acted in accordance with the voice of our conscience. And as you can see, there is nothing criminal in this either. And in our case, everything is much simpler. Our religion is not prohibited, that is, we can freely use Article 28 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation - to gather together, and there is nothing criminal about it. Maybe then I or someone else expressed something extremist, something that incited some kind of hostility? Not really. The case materials do not confirm this. There is nothing like this in the transcripts at all.

If we talk about our services at all, what is their leitmotif, so to speak? What kind of atmosphere prevailed at these services in general? Perhaps it was difficult to understand from a dry reading of the transcript. Maybe it was difficult to judge the atmosphere at all, but I would like to draw attention to the screenshots of the service for 06/15/2021, in volume 16, case sheets 181 to 185. What can be understood from these screenshots (I'm holding them in front of me now) about the atmosphere, about the people who gathered there? The first thing that catches my eye on page 181, before the start of the main program of worship, is the kind smiles of these people. That is, no malice. How are they dressed? Clean, tidy, one might even say festive. For these people, this is something very important. If you look at the transcript, then there is just such a friendly conversation, a kind and pleasant atmosphere. And if you look further, these are screenshots of the service itself, it can be seen from the transcript that there is a lively discussion of some topics from the Bible. And it is clear that respect is also shown, that everyone can express what they think about the topic under discussion. No one interrupts, it is clear that a friendly and respectful atmosphere prevails at these meetings.

And you know, if we talk about our beliefs, Jesus Christ said that the main thing that distinguishes his followers is love. And that's exactly what you can see in the transcripts and screenshots for this meeting. If there were people here whose hearts are full of hatred and extremist motives, it seems to me that the picture would be completely different. What could we see there? Maybe there is some malice on their faces, maybe some untidiness in their clothes, maybe even weapons, these are extremists. But according to the prosecution, this is exactly what dangerous extremists who threaten the security of the state look like — kind, good people. To be honest, I have some perplexity in this regard. And as you can see, again, there is no corpus delicti. There were no statements that would fall under extremist legislation.

As for me personally, I hope very much that I have turned out to be a good Jehovah's Witness. I want to hope so. But I'm a very lousy extremist. Well, I'm not an extremist, that's for sure. Why do I say that? If you think about it that way, what is the basis of extremism? What is its poisonous root? It's hate. A heart filled with hatred for someone or something, it just encourages hostility, encourages violence. That is, a person hates someone, and he wants to do everything to make him feel bad or to make him not exist at all. This is a manifestation of hatred, and, accordingly, this is extremism. Well, in my understanding, at least. But, you know, I don't hate people in my heart, whoever they are, and no matter what they do to me, I don't hate anyone. Why is this so? I have tried since my conscious age, when I decided to become a Jehovah's Witness, to consciously eradicate from my heart any manifestation of hatred towards people. My God Jehovah helped me in this. Why did I do this? Because the Bible gives such an assessment to people who hate other people: anyone who hates a brother is a murderer. That is, in the eyes of God, if you hate a person, maybe he differs from you by faith, try to do something against him, or encourage others to do this, then, in fact, in the eyes of God you become a murderer. Therefore, this issue is very serious for me. The context of these words suggests that it is necessary to develop love instead of hatred. All my adult life, since I was a teenager, I have tried to develop this quality in myself — love and kindness towards people. And with the help of my God Jehovah, I was able to drive out any hatred of people from my heart with love.

You know, I have been in prison for more than 2 years (someone already says that it is already like at home, that I am already used to it), and I often observe manifestations of hatred there. Many prisoners hate government officials because they feel they are being treated unfairly, and this often translates into the fact that they sometimes even wish them dead. They use different words to call the authorities. Sometimes they destroy the camera, and this shows their hatred. Imagine if I were a real extremist, and now I am imprisoned for 2 years in a pre-trial detention center, and I have been in solitary confinement for more than 2 years, and sometimes these are just terrible conditions: dampness, dirt, rats and all that. Just imagine, if I had hatred for people in me, then surely in these two years it has at least somehow manifested itself. But no one noticed anything like that from my side. On the contrary, they treat me with respect because they see my respectful attitude towards others.

And do you know who is an example for me in this? I try my best to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ. Yaroslav [Kalin] has already given this example that when Christ was unjustly condemned, and not just to imprisonment, but to death, and when he had already suffered bullying, pain, injustice and humiliation, what does Jesus do? He prays to God and says, "Forgive these people, because they don't know what they're doing." That is, it is clear that in the heart of Jesus there was no hatred and bitterness towards these people. And I try to do the same. I often pray for all people: for representatives of the authorities, for those who detained me, who is judging me, and so on. But in what key? Not that they feel bad, but, on the contrary, I pray for their well-being, and that finally everyone understands that Jehovah's Witnesses do not really pose any danger to society or the state. Just as magnets of different polarities can never connect, they will repel, so extremism is far from me. Never, as a Jehovah's Witness, will I become an extremist.

But then what is my fault and for what 6 years and 4 months? Maybe it was because I was saying the name of God? In the religious studies examination by Starostina, which is the basis of the accusation, in volume 29, section 125, a table is provided on the number of mentions of the name of God — 12 times at the divine service for 06/18/2021. It feels like saying the name of God is some kind of crime. One of the translations of the Bible was recognized as extremist, in part because the name of God was restored there. "Jehovah" is how the tetragrammaton, the four Hebrew letters YHWH, which makes up the name of God, is traditionally transmitted in Russian. And it appears more than 7,000 times in the original text of the Bible.

In fact, this name used to be very widely used. For example, many Russian classics used the personal name Jehovah in their works, such as Fyodor Dostoevsky, Marina Tsvetaeva, Afanasy Fet, Alexander Pushkin, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Leo Tolstoy, Alexander Kuprin, Sergei Yesenin. I would like to quote an excerpt from a work by a Russian classic, he uses the name of God right here. It says:

Spread out, sea... sing, Israel, redemption! Sinai, didn't you mature the day of the covenant in fear? Did he not descend on your head, trembling in confusion, like a thundering cloud?

Yes, he uses the name of God here, but does that make the writer an extremist? Or maybe the work he wrote is becoming extremist? Obviously not. Therefore, using the name of God in our country is not a crime. Therefore, there is no corpus delicti in my actions, in my words, or in my motives. Therefore, I cannot say that yes, I committed a crime. I have not committed any crime. I also can't say that I regret being at the service, because it's not a crime, it's an expression of my faith. Therefore, my conscience is clear before the state, before God, and before people. I have done nothing wrong or criminal.

You know, I also have no one to apologize to, because there are no casualties or any damage in our case. That's why I can't say, "I'm sorry," either. For what? And even more so, who should I ask for this forgiveness from? And even more so, I can't say, "I won't do it anymore." Because that's my faith, and if I said that, it would mean giving up my faith. You know, if we talk about my beliefs, if I admitted my guilt, it turns out that I would admit that my beliefs are criminal, dangerous, extremist. I can't do that, because for me my faith is my whole life, you can say that I live my faith, breathe and exist. For me, faith is not just about observing some religious rules and rituals. This is primarily my relationship with my heavenly father Jehovah. For me, he is a real person, and I love him very much. He actually helps, answers my prayers and supports me in this situation. I think each of us loves our parents very much. If someone were to put pressure on us and threaten us with something, saying: "Give up your parents! Admit that their upbringing is bad, that they are criminals… Give them up!" Would we do that? Hardly, because we love our parents, because we know what they are like and what they taught us. Similarly, I cannot renounce Jehovah, my heavenly father.

What is happening to me and my friends today is not really something new. There are very wise words of King Solomon in the Bible: "What has been done, will be done again. There is nothing new under the sun." In fact, Jesus warned his followers, "If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you." And we know that Jesus, in fact, throughout his entire earthly ministry, was persecuted by people, hated, and various accusations were made against him. And as a result, he was sentenced to death. But what was the essence of the accusation? In short, Jesus allegedly threatened the security of the Roman Empire, and because of this he was executed, although Pontius Pilate recognized his innocence. His follower, the famous religious preacher Apostle Paul, was imprisoned for a long time, and eventually he was executed. This is the accusation his opponents made against him: "This man is worse than an infection. The instigator of the riots." That is, again, the point is that he allegedly threatened the security of the Roman Empire with his faith and his actions. Subsequently, we know from historical data that many early Christians faced the most terrible persecution in the Roman Empire. They were all asked: "Renounce your faith, then you will avoid imprisonment, torture, death. Just renounce it."

The modern history of Jehovah's Witnesses knows many cases of cruel unjustified persecution in different countries. For example, few people know that Jehovah's Witnesses were also severely persecuted during the Holocaust. Many of them ended up in concentration camps, and they were even singled out in a separate group and wore a patch on the camp uniform in the form of a purple triangle. But why were Jehovah's Witnesses persecuted at that time? Just like the first Christians, for their firm position to adhere to the biblical teachings. For example, they observed neutrality, did not salute the Nazi flag, did not pronounce "Heil Hitler". It required a lot of courage from them. They continued to gather together, they continued to preach, they continued to act like Christians and were kind to all people, including Jews.

Robert Herwart, a professor of modern history, in one of his books called Jehovah's Witnesses the only group in the Third Reich that was persecuted solely because of their religious beliefs. Other prisoners admired the position of Jehovah's Witnesses. One of them said that they were not fighting and would rather go to their deaths themselves than kill another. Time has passed, and now Jehovah's Witnesses are a respected religion in Germany.

In the Soviet Union, Jehovah's Witnesses were persecuted for decades. In many cases, they were given a document to sign renouncing their faith, so they could avoid deportation to Siberia, imprisonment, confiscation of property, etc. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Jehovah's Witnesses were rehabilitated, recognized as victims of repression and issued the appropriate documents. But why were they persecuted? Were they dangerous to the state? The state admitted that it did not. The reason was the same: because they firmly adhered to the biblical teachings.

In 2017, the Supreme Court decided to liquidate the legal entities of Jehovah's Witnesses, while we have repeatedly said that the court did not prohibit the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses and ways of expressing it, that the decision should not have affected ordinary believers… But, unfortunately, practice shows that when ordinary believers gather together, criminal cases are opened against them, as if they continue their legal activities, although this is not the case.

I believe that I am here today because I also try to hold fast to the biblical teachings. I don't know what the purpose of these persecutions is. Maybe they want to force me to give up my faith… I don't know… But I won't do that. Perhaps, as already mentioned, some time will pass, and the state will recognize that we do not pose any harm, no danger to either society or the state, which is true. Your Honor, my faith does not make me an extremist, on the contrary, it encourages me to respect the authorities, comply with the laws of the country, be courteous and kind to all people regardless of their religious affiliation, nationality or social status. I am an innocent man. And I think it was obvious during the trial, so I deserve only an acquittal with the possibility of rehabilitation.

Your Honor, you will soon have to make a decision that will affect our entire lives. I think you should consider that your decision will affect not only the nine of us, but many more people, good, kind people. These are our dear wives. Caring, beloved faithful who have already really suffered from this situation. These are children… One of us has them very young, and they really need a father. These are our beloved parents, who are already elderly and very worried about us, and because of this their health has deteriorated very much. Therefore, I want to ask you to show us humanity and mercy. And I would like to finish my last word with the same question. So, after all, for what 6 years and 4 months? I have all.

Summary of the case

Region:

Irkutsk region

Locality:

Irkutsk

What is suspected:

Being "adherents of the religious association "The Management Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia", they organized collective religious services consisting of consistently performed songs and prayers to Jehovah God, the study of articles" (from the decision on bringing as an accused)

Criminal case number:

12102250040000051

Initiated:

October 4, 2021

The current stage of the case:

Proceedings in the court of first instance

Investigating:

2nd investigative department of the 3rd Department for the investigation of particularly important cases of the SU IC of the Russian Federation in the Irkutsk region

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:

1-6/2024 (1-105/2023; 1-857/2022)

Court of first instance:

Oktyabrsky District Court of Irkutsk

Judge of the Court of first instance:

Andrey Slavinsky