The last word of the defendant Sona Olopova in Tolyatti

 RUSSIA 

 

The last word of the defendant Sona Olopova in Tolyatti

January 24, 2024

Samara region

"Having failed to find a crime in my actions, I am accused of being against the state," the believer told the court, "while they did not provide any evidence of my guilt." She explained: "The prosecution did not take into account the fact that it is impossible to be a Jehovah's Witness and at the same time be an extremist."

Transcript of the court session in the Central District Court of Tolyatti dated 01/24/2024 in the case 1-50/2024 (1-547/2023) on the accusation of Olopova Sona Andranikovna of committing a crime under Part 2 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Olopova Sona Andranikovna:

Dear Court, At the beginning, I would like to express my gratitude to all participants in the process. Your Honor, thank you for your attentive and thorough attitude to the case. Special thanks for giving me permission to travel outside the city to visit my parents.

Elena Sergeevna, you are not just a wonderful lawyer, but, above all, a very good person. Thank you to the Public Prosecutor for making us feel safe thanks to your hard work. The secretary's work deserves special thanks. You have a very demanding job. You are a very kind and sunny person.

I want to say a huge thank you to my friends. You can't even imagine how important your support is to me. It's so nice that many of you were even waiting for me on the street, and the children and their parents came to support me. Neither frosts, nor blizzards, nor snowfalls stop you. It's written about you in the Bible: "A friend loves at all times and, like a brother, will appear in time of adversity" (Proverbs 17:17). You've been with me all this time, it's not easy for me.

About myself, I just want to say that my conscience is clear, first of all, before God, before the state and before other people. I stand before the court not as a criminal, but as a Christian, a believer. As we saw during the whole process, I did not commit any criminal acts. I didn't cause any physical or moral pain to anyone. The apostle of Jesus Peter wrote these words in the New Testament: "Let none of you suffer as a murderer, or a thief, or a villain, or as a trespasser; but if as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but glorify God for such a fate" (1 Peter 4:15, 16). He wrote these words because the disciples of Jesus in the first century were also detained and brought to the courts.

I did not think that I would find myself in the same circumstances as the son of God, Jesus Christ, found himself in. The Gospel of Luke, chapter 23, describes this situation. Jesus was led from one judge to another because he had committed no crime. The judges did not see his guilt, but the people demanded punishment, decided to accuse him of outraging the people, forbidding them to pay taxes. In today's language, they would accuse him of going against the state, that he is an extremist, although Jesus, on the contrary, said these words: "Give Caesar's to Caesar, and God's to God" (Mark 12:17). Thus, Jesus taught that it is necessary to comply with the requirements of the authorities, for example, to pay taxes, but worship belongs to God. Today, in the 21st century, the situation is very similar to what it was in the first century. Having failed to find a crime in my actions, I am accused of being against the state, while not providing any evidence of my guilt, as in the case of Jesus.

The prosecution also did not take into account the fact that it is impossible to be a Jehovah's Witness and at the same time be an extremist, since extremists commit actions that God directly condemns in the Bible.

Religious scholar and Doctor of Philosophy Sergey Ivanenko in his book "About people who are resistant to Persecution" wrote about Jehovah's Witnesses as follows: "Jehovah's Witnesses are convinced and consistent pacifists. A unique feature of Jehovah's Witnesses is their commitment to nonviolence: their refusal to take up arms, participate in wars and politics, and resort to violence in any form."

I also wanted to say very briefly about the name of God — Jehovah. I decided to compare in different translations of the Bible whether the name of God is present. In the Modern translation of the Bible, published in 1997 (edition "Biblio-Rusicum", Moscow), the name of God Jehovah is found in the book of the Bible Genesis 22:13, then in the book of Exodus 3:14, 15: "God answered Moses: "I am who I am. When you go to the Israelites, tell them, "God has sent me to you." And God also said to Moses, "This is what you have to tell people: 'Jehovah, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. My name will always be Jehovah, and a great many generations will know me by this name." And under the name of the One in the footnote is "Jehovah". I even downloaded the Orthodox Bible in the Play Store and the name of God is also present there in some places.

In the translation of Archimandrite Macarius, the name Jehovah occurs more than 3,000 times. In the Book of Psalms (translated by G. P. Pavsky in 1822), the name Jehovah is used 36 times. There are 9 scriptures in the Synodal translation where the name Jehovah occurs. Even Jesus, in the well-known prayer of our Father, said: "Hallowed be thy name." This means that it is important for Christians, as followers of Christ, to know and call God by name. Each of us is pleased that we are known and called by our first name, and not just treated with titles. For example, there is the title "lawyer", which shows the profession and position of a person. But under this title there is a personality and a wonderful person — Elena Sergeevna, and I am sure that it is more pleasant for you when you are addressed, they say not a lawyer, but Elena Sergeevna. Another proof that God's name is Jehovah is the translation of the name Jesus. Christians even call him the Savior. The name Jesus consists of two words: Jehovah and salvation, which means "salvation from Jehovah."

For me, the Bible is a storehouse of wise and practical advice. There are a lot of tips on how to strengthen a marriage, how to manage money properly, how to raise responsible children, how to treat others. If you turn to psychologists, you can see that they do not have a common opinion on how to help a person, everyone adheres to different methods. But only God, as the Creator of people, knows what people need and has given advice that is relevant despite millennia.

For example, my husband and I are greatly helped by the principle from the New Testament: "Let each of you love your wife as yourself; but let the wife fear her husband" (Ephesians 5:33). The word "afraid" does not mean panic fear, but respect. And I thought about this principle: why does God have such advice that a wife respects her husband and a husband loves his wife? But because the psychology of a man and a woman is different. It is very important for men to feel respect as the head of the family, and a woman — a fragile and delicate creature — needs more to be assured of love both in words and deeds. These two keys alone make our family life happy, and there are a lot of such tips.

I hope, Your Honor, that communication with us during the court sessions and an impartial study of the materials of the criminal case have convinced you that we are not extremists and are not guilty of committing a serious crime. I ask you, considering the above, to justify me.

Summary of the case

Region:

Samara region

Locality:

Tolyatti

Criminal case number:

12302360032000242

Initiated:

May 15, 2023

Current stage of the case:

Appeal

Is investigating:

The Central interdistrict Investigative Department for the city of Tolyatti of the Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Samara region

Articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation:

282.2 (2)

Case number in court:

1-50/2024 (1-547/2023)

Court of First Instance:

The Central District Court of Tolyatti

Judge of the Court of First instance:

Tatyana Begunova