The last word of the defendant Yevgeny Zyablov in Magadan

 RUSSIA 

The last word of the defendant Yevgeny Zyablov in Magadan

on February 9, 2024.

Magadan region

In the last word, the believer expressed confidence in his innocence and said: "Nothing that would connect me with extremism has ever been proven, and it has not been proven. By and large, only [my] Bible-based creeds, which are not banned in Russia, were considered."

Transcript of the court session in the Magadan City Court of the Magadan region dated 02/09/2023 in the case 1-12/2023 (1-220/2022) on charges of Evgeny Anatolyevich Zyablov and others. of committing a crime under Part 2 of Article 282.2, Part 1 of Article 282.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Zyablov Evgeny Anatolyevich:

The last word of the defendant Evgeny Anatolyevich Zyablov, accused under articles 282.3 (1), 282.2 (2) of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation of crimes that I did not commit. He spent 2 days in detention in an IVS, 126 days in a pre-trial detention center, 173 days under house arrest, currently on his own recognizance.

First of all, I would like to thank Jehovah for giving me the opportunity to stand here today and thus speak in his defense, because by accusing me and my friends, the prosecution, in fact, blackens the name of God, making him evil. But Jehovah is a loving God, he teaches me through the Bible and visible creations to be like him, loving to everyone.

I would also like to thank you, Your Honor, for your hard work, patience and respectful attitude towards us. I also thank the prosecution, Marina Nikolaevna and Elina Olegovna, for correctly pronouncing the sacred name of God! And you, dear Secretary Vera Nikolaevna, for your hard work, for your kind attitude towards us! And thanks to all the lawyers! You yourself, without knowing it, have the honor to defend the name of God.

Special thanks to my wife Annushka. It wasn't easy for her to go through all this with me. It really affected her health, but she has always been a support to me. Her love warms me up! Thank you to my dear parents for their love and understanding of the absurdity of the accusation! And to you, my dear friends, thank you so much for your support of me and my family, and especially our son Timosik, although you find yourself in the same situation as me. Thank you, I love you!

I want to tell you about two trials that are known from history and are important for this trial. The first concerns the apostle Paul, he is described in Acts 24:10-16: "When Felix nodded to Paul to speak, he said: "I know that you have been judging this people for many years, and therefore I will willingly speak in my defense. You can make sure for yourself that about 12 days ago I came to worship in Jerusalem and no one saw me arguing with anyone in the temple or inciting the crowd to riot in synagogues or in the city. They can't prove the accusations they're making against me right now. But I admit that I serve the God of my ancestors in accordance with the teachings that they call sectarian, and I believe everything that is written in the law and in the books of the prophets. I have the same hope in God as they do—the hope that there will be a resurrection of the righteous and the unrighteous. Therefore, I try to always have a clear conscience before God and people. Many years later, I returned to Jerusalem to deliver offerings to my people and to offer sacrifices to God. That's why they found me in the temple, after I had performed the purification rite. There was no crowd with me, and I didn't cause a riot."

The same thing is happening today. We do not cause riots, incite the crowd to mutiny, or do anything related to extremism. No evidence of extremism has been provided, because there was no extremism! It is clear from all the evidence that we want our conscience to be clean before God and people.

The second process concerns Jesus Christ, it is described in Matthew 26:59-68: "Peter followed him at a safe distance to the house of the high priest. After entering the courtyard, he sat down with the servants to see how it would end. The senior priests and the entire Sanhedrin were looking for those who would give false testimony against Jesus in order to sentence him to death. But they could not find anything against him, although many false witnesses came. Then two people came and said: "This man was saying, 'I can destroy the temple of God and build it in three days.'" Then the high priest stood up and asked him, "Have you nothing to answer? Do you hear what they're accusing you of?" But Jesus was silent. The high priest said to him, "Swear by the living God and tell us, are you the Christ, the Son of God?" Jesus answered him, "You said it yourself. I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and walking through the clouds of heaven." Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, "He is blaspheming! Why do we need other witnesses? You've just heard blasphemy yourself! What do you say to that?" "He deserves to die," they replied. Then some began to spit in his face and beat him with their fists, while others slapped him and said, "Hey, Christ! If you are a prophet, tell us who hit you?""

Matthew 27:15-27 goes on to say: "It was the custom of the ruler [Pilate] to release a prisoner on Easter, for whom the people asked. At that time, a well-known criminal named Barabbas was in custody. Therefore Pilate asked the assembled people, "Whom shall I set free for you: Barabbas or Jesus, who is called Christ?" After all, he knew that Jesus was given to him out of envy. In addition, when Pilate was sitting on the bench, he was given a message from his wife: "Do not do anything to this righteous man, because today in a dream I suffered greatly because of him." But the senior priests and elders convinced the people to ask them to release Barabbas and kill Jesus. The ruler asked again: "Which of the two do you want me to release for you?" They said, "Barabbas." Pilate asked, "What should I do with Jesus, who is called the Christ?" Everyone shouted, "On his pillar!" He asked, "For what? What evil has he done?" But they began to shout even louder: "To his pillar!" Seeing that nothing was helping and that, on the contrary, the indignation was only growing, Pilate took water, washed his hands in front of the people and said: "I am innocent of the death of this man. To answer you." And all the people said, "May his blood be on us and on our children." Then Pilate freed Barabbas, and ordered Jesus to be flogged and then executed on a stake. The soldiers took Jesus away."

According to the historian Josephus, at that time gangs of criminals greatly contributed to public unrest; such criminals claimed to be fighting against the oppression of Jewish peasants. By the middle of the 1st century A.D., discontent with the rule of the Romans, as well as the Jewish nobility, covered almost the entire country. Later, bands of robbers formed a significant part of the Jewish army that drove the Romans out of Judea in 66 AD. "Barabbas may have belonged to a rural gang," says one Bible dictionary. "These gangs enjoyed the support of the common people, as they robbed the ruling elite of Israel and inflicted damage on the Roman government."

Today, the same thing is happening — those who commit crimes are released, and civilians are sentenced to suspended and real terms of up to 10 years, fined. It seems that this is not a job for the prosecution, but some kind of game. The prosecution, as noted by the lawyers, does not even strain to think about and refute the logical arguments of the defense, because everything is already known in advance about the outcome of the case. Although there are many mistakes in the materials that allowed the prosecutor's office to stop the case even before going to court, but they did not do it! And at the same time they continue to bend their line, apparently under pressure from higher authorities. As noted here, you are mothers, parents and someone's children. If the same accusation approach is applied to you or your children as to us, how will you feel? How to protect your rights?

Judging by what happened at this trial and at others across the country, the prosecution is listening to accuse us who are not associated with extremism. Allegedly, it is known that foreign countries are trying to get into power through us (allegedly because the center of Jehovah's Witnesses is located in the United States). But this is absurd! Then prove it in court! But no, it's not proven, because it's a lie!

Similarly, everyone can be judged on far-fetched and unfounded accusations, for example, all those, including government employees, who drive Japanese or American-made cars. So, unfriendly countries are trying to seize power through them, since the center where such cars are produced is located in unfriendly countries? Therefore, all civil servants must travel exclusively by domestic cars! And this is absurd! We see that there is no such thing, because a citizen of the Russian Federation has the right to have the freedom to choose what to drive. The main thing is not to violate traffic rules. Also with the choice of religion — according to the Constitution, a person has the right to choose any one, as well as to gather together and share their beliefs. The main thing is that there should be no extremism in these actions.

The history of our country shows that others are making coups in power while the security services are busy with Jehovah's Witnesses! As my lawyer noted, and I agree with him, it would be better to spend this huge amount of money — and just imagine how much is spent on us to blame, to monitor — it would be better spent on social needs: repairing roads, orphanages and it would be better to catch real extremist criminals.

[…]

Your Honor, you have the opportunity to stop this lawlessness: not to condemn civilians who have nothing to do with extremism, as shown by the video recordings from the case materials and the proceedings as a whole.

But I would like to emphasize that despite all such obvious mistakes, showing the mood to blame rather than to figure it out, none of us became embittered and did not treat the authorities badly or disrespectfully, to the state prosecution and to the court.

And there is no extremism in this! We believe that this unjustified persecution will eventually end — not in this court, but in another one! History shows that this will be the case! If this court continues the repression, then the same court will acquit and rehabilitate. As, for example, it was with the grandfather of my friend Ivan Puida. At first, the court issued a guilty verdict, starting repression, and then years later, perhaps, the children and grandchildren of those prosecutors and judges handed down an acquittal, rehabilitating him.

Why would you, Your Honor, continue these convictions of innocent people? You can stop it.

Your Honor, you know that according to Article 17 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, a judge evaluates evidence according to his inner conviction based on the totality of evidence available in a criminal case, guided by the law and conscience. The law clearly delineated the concepts of extremism and the usual observance of Article 28 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation. There is no extremism, so you can practice your faith! Our illegal actions were not proven in this court. The law did not prohibit and does not prohibit us from continuing to practice our religion.

I hope that in passing sentence in our case, you will be guided by both the law and the conscience of an honest, independent judge.

Nothing linking me to extremism has ever been proven, nor has it been proven. By and large, only our Bible-based creeds were considered, which the Constitution does not prohibit.

Your Honor, I liked the way they compared the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation with the Bible for you. If the Bible is interpreted in different ways, is it possible to interpret the Criminal Code not in accordance with what is contained there? It turns out, you can! And this process confirmed it!

Here is an example of how people interpret the Bible: God eternally torments sinners in a fiery hell. And what does the Bible say? A loving God could not conceive of torment in hell. Jeremiah 7:31: "They built sanctuaries in Tophet, in the valley of Ben Hinnom, to burn their sons and daughters, although I did not give them such a command and it never occurred to me." People did such atrocities, but God had nothing to do with it. On the contrary, it was disgusting for him.

There is also historical evidence that such abominations as the sacrifice of children took place. I found the following on the Internet: "The sacrifice of children was a hallmark of the worship of the Phoenician god Malik-Baal-Kronos." The Phoenicians originally inhabited the northern coast of Canaan. Since they were seafarers, they established colonies in all areas of the Mediterranean Sea, and wherever they went, they brought their vile ritual of sacrificing children. New archaeological finds in the ancient Phoenician city of Carthage (now a suburb of Tunis, North Africa) show how depraved this custom was.

This place was found in 1921. But it was only in the 1970s that it began to be intensively excavated due to the expansion of the modern city in this direction. The place of discovery turned out to be a huge cemetery for the remains of sacrificed children. One magazine reported: "From the 8th century BC to the 2nd century BC, mothers and fathers from Carthage buried their children, whom they sacrificed to the god Baal Hammon and the goddess Tanith. In the IV century BC, the Tophet may have already been 6,000 square meters in size with nine layers buried." Similar sites have been found in Sicily, Sardinia and some other places in Tunisia. Once all these were Phoenician colonies.

Inscriptions on memorial plaques show that children were sacrificed as fulfillment of vows made by their parents to Baal or Tanith in order to be favored. The ranks and titles indicated on the memorial plates make it clear that the custom was especially popular in high circles, who clearly cared that the gods blessed their efforts to achieve wealth and influence and preserve them. In some of the urns, the remains of two or three children were found, who, judging by the age difference, probably belonged to the same family.

The Bible clearly shows an extremely negative attitude towards such human crimes: "Moreover, they built the sanctuaries of Baal in the valley of Ben Hinnom in order to burn their sons and daughters, sacrificing them to Moloch, and thereby encouraged Judah to sin, but I did not give them such a command and such an abomination never occurred to me" (Jeremiah 32:35).

If God abhors the customs of burning children as a sacrifice and this did not even occur to him, then the conclusion is the same: it was unthinkable for him to invent eternal torment in a fiery hell. Moreover, God is just, and it would be unfair if a person sins for 80 years, but suffers in the fire forever. To act unfairly is unthinkable for God! And would you, as parents, have endured the suffering of a child whom you had put in a corner for a long time? The heart is squeezed by the tears of the kids, and I immediately want to forgive. It is unthinkable for God to look at the eternal torments of people.

So, you can see what is written in the Bible and whether the teachings of other religions correspond exactly to what can be read in it. Based on this, you can draw your own conclusions.

Similarly, with the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. If there is a clear explanation of what extremism is, then why interpret it differently? Think about it, just to accuse and imprison? It is necessary to act in accordance with the law. Were there calls for violence and overthrow of the government in our words or deeds? No, it wasn't.

In the beginning, we saw two processes from the Bible. And here is the situation that served as the basis for another process. Although there are acquittals that concern my dear co-religionists in other regions, but then everything is new. More charges, new reviews, deadlines, and so on. Therefore, nothing is surprising about what is happening at the moment. But I would like to emphasize that despite all this, none of us became embittered and did not treat the authorities, the state prosecutors and the courts badly or disrespectfully. And there is no extremism in this. We believe that this unjustified persecution will stop and we will be acquitted. If not in this court, then in another one, over time. Nothing linking us or me to extremism has ever been proven, nor has it been proven. By and large, only our Bible-based creeds, which are not banned in Russia, were considered.

[…]

"People in the village were going to read the Gospel, and the authorities came and dispersed them. The next Sunday they gathered again, then they called the sergeant, drew up an act, and they were put on trial. The judicial investigator interrogated, the comrade prosecutor drew up an indictment, the judicial chamber approved the charge, and they were put on trial. The comrade prosecutor accused, there was physical evidence on the table — the Gospel, and they were sentenced to exile." To the perplexity of the hero of the novel: "Are there really laws according to which a person can be exiled for reading the Gospel together with others?" the lawyer of that era pointedly replied: "Not only to be exiled to places not so remote, but to penal servitude, if only it is proved that reading the Gospel, they allowed themselves to interpret it to others not as ordered, and therefore condemned the church interpretation." It has been about 126 years since Leo Tolstoy wrote the novel Resurrection. Judging by the processes throughout Russia and our process as well, it is clear that the problem of religion in modern Russia is still as acute.

Then you can recall the processes in the USSR, which have been described here more than once. They accused Jehovah's Witnesses of destroying the Soviet system. The current wording of the accusation is the destruction of the constitutional order. It's like in the novel by Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy: people read the Gospel (Bible) in a different translation, which is accepted in this country. And for this they were not only exiled, but also sent to hard labor. And in our case, they give colonies up to 10 years. But both then and now, these accusations have no basis.

On the pages of the Bible, we read how Jesus was unfairly accused and put on trial, then his followers — Christians of the first century. And we are seeing the same thing now. And I ask you to note once again, Your Honor, that despite the infringement of our rights, the restriction of our free life — subscriptions not to leave, the seizure of accounts and listing as extremists of Rosfinmonitoring — after all this, none of us has hatred or any malice against the country in which we live and those who invented this accusation.

On the pages of the Bible, we read how Jesus was unfairly accused and put on trial, then his followers — Christians of the first century. And we are seeing the same thing now. And I ask you to note once again, Your Honor, that despite the infringement of our rights, the restriction of our free life — subscriptions not to leave, the seizure of accounts and listing as extremists of Rosfinmonitoring — after all this, none of us has hatred or any malice against the country in which we live and those who invented this accusation.

And why is that? Because we have been taught the wonderful qualities that are recorded in the Bible — qualities that are inherent in Jehovah God himself, such as love. His son, Jesus Christ, clearly showed how to manifest these qualities in life — to love your neighbor as yourself, not to repay evil for evil, but, on the contrary, to repay with love. I think if all people learned this, there would be no wars and prejudices.

I also don't have any hatred, because Jesus warned that there would be such persecution of Christians, and this process is a vivid proof that the words of Christ are being fulfilled before our eyes. Jesus said, "If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you." And also: "You should be ready. You will be put on trial, beaten in synagogues and taken to rulers and kings because of me so that they will hear about me." That is why we are here today, speaking in defense of God, so that you, Your Honor, and the prosecution can see that God loves you and wants you to live forever. And to do this, you need to learn about God and his son Jesus Christ. During this process, you have learned a lot that God has a name and this name must be sanctified or treated as sacred.

If you don't like this prospect of eternal life here on earth, in excellent conditions and with perfect health, well, it's your choice, and you have the right to decide what to expect from the future. God Jehovah does not force anyone.

Personally, I really want to see this and enjoy the fulfillment of all the promises that Jehovah gave us and which his son Jesus Christ told and showed us. And he made people healthy, resurrected the dead to life. Please note: he resurrected the dead not in heaven, but on earth, to his relatives and friends.

Is it extremism to believe deeply in these promises of God, which he will soon fulfill, and to help others learn about them? There is nothing that says that.

Your Honor and the participants in the trial, during the time these trials are underway, you could have already formed an opinion about each of us, at least according to our characteristics. Someone is a veteran of labor, an honored teacher, and just a kind, good person, as the prosecution witnesses said. Do we look like extremists? What do extremists look like? It probably doesn't matter what they look like. The main thing is not appearance, but deeds. They can be seen from the description in the law on extremism — hatred, malice, and so on. But this is not among us, has not been and will not be. We are brought up according to God's biblical principles of love. And in this process, there was not a single piece of evidence that we committed or even plotted extremism.

Each of us, as shown by medical psychiatric examinations, is sane. I am sure that each of us would have reported to the authorities himself, having learned from someone about any plan for an act of extremism. And it is even more unusual for us to be extremists ourselves.

Why, Your Honor, should you imprison or convict respectable and law-abiding people!? Each of us has his own unique cases from life, which will confirm in practice honesty and love for others, will confirm love, not hatred of people.

I want to share my life story. Thanks to my Bible-trained conscience, I am very worried about other people and am ready to help them, regardless of their nationality and religion. So, once in Primorye, I saved two drowning children, girls of 10-12 years old. Their dad, exhausted to do anything to help the girls, somehow, breathing heavily, said that his children were drowning. Without hesitation, I dived where he pointed. There were big waves at sea that day, and that family acted recklessly, deciding to swim on an air mattress. The waves turned over the mattress. Their dad tried to grab the mattress to help his daughters, but it was very difficult for him because of the wind and waves. So, struggling with the elements, he lost his strength. I wanted to come up next to the children and help them get to shore, but, Your Honor, I couldn't do it because I was thrown by a wave and started spinning underwater. I will never forget that day! I could have drowned. I wouldn't be standing here right now. But Jehovah allowed me to move on. Believe it or not, I personally am convinced that Jehovah helped me that day.

So, being underwater and already completely exhausted, I began to give up. I had no strength to resist the waves, but they continued to twist. At that moment, like Jonah, who experienced similar feelings, I prayed to Jehovah and said, "Save Jehovah! I have no strength! I wanted to save the children and couldn't!" And then I surfaced! I realized that I couldn't swim up to the children anymore, because I didn't have the strength. And I knew that they would grab hold of me, and we would drown together. Therefore, I decided to help them with a mattress. Then the girls' father and I, grabbing at different ends of the mattress, swam to the children. Throwing them and dad on the mattress, I began to push the mattress towards the shore, which I could no longer see, since I had lost my glasses in the water, and the waves interfered with the view. The cry of the children and their dad that we were being carried out to sea scared me very much and, to be honest, at that moment I thought again that I would drown, because I did not have the strength to climb onto the mattress. But in those seconds, I felt the bottom! After climbing out onto the shore, I fell. The children and dad thanked me, but I did not hear their words, I tried to scold them for taking it into their heads to swim on a mattress in such weather! They promised not to do that anymore! Interestingly, the man I came to the beach with tried to tell everyone that people were drowning, but no one reacted. It seemed to everyone that we were playing!

Why is this story with a happy ending? I want to reach your heart, Your Honor, and yours, the prosecution. What motivated me at that moment to rush to the aid of dad and his daughters, without thinking about the consequences? Love for people. What Jehovah teaches through Jesus: "Do to others as you want them to do to you" (Matthew 7:12). You can imagine for a second how that dad felt when he found himself in that situation, and how much he wanted help! I couldn't do anything else but rush to help. I am sure that each of the defendants would have done the same — they would have rushed to save!

I continued to do something similar, Your Honor, during the period of my indictment — I studied the Bible to help those in need of Bible study and also developed qualities that help me to be a good citizen who is ready to help. Well, the best help, in my opinion, is to help a person get to know the Creator, find out his plan for the near future and develop close friendly relations with Jehovah God. Jehovah has prepared a wonderful gift — eternal life on earth. John 17:3 says: "In order to gain eternal life, it is necessary to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent."

I thank Jehovah for resolving that situation with his help. Thank you to my Father for being able to talk about him and glorify him alive now. Your Honor, I am sure that you, the prosecution, and every lawyer would do the same — come to the aid of those in need! We need the protection of the state from unfounded, far-fetched accusations and slander, provide legal assistance in this direction!

So why judge us? If we do good to all people and, by studying the Bible, learn to come to their aid, regardless of their religious affiliation and nation.

Every Jehovah's Witness has a similar characteristic, and it has nothing to do with extremism. For example, rumors that our faith destroys families are just unfounded empty accusations, as in extremism. Of course, we are imperfect, imperfect and experience various difficulties in marriage, but when we apply the advice that Jehovah gives through the Bible, a miracle happens. Families are not being destroyed, but are becoming stronger.

Here are some tips from this holy book. For example, Ephesians 5:33 says, "So let each of you love your wife as yourself, and a wife should deeply respect her husband." Here, Your Honor, is the secret of family happiness. This is what we learned in meetings during the period that we are accused of. Is this extremism? This is the strengthening of families, and therefore the strengthening of the constitutional order.

[…]

Here is an example of our family with my Annushka. Look at the letters she wrote to me in jail!

"Hello, my dear sunshine! I received my first email from you today. The first in a long time. I already thought that my letters didn't reach you at all, that they were disappearing somewhere along the way. Therefore, you have no idea how much I was delighted with this letter. I was ready to kiss the phone for joy! I received two paper letters from you, with drawings. So I decided to draw something for you in response. Of course, you're doing better.

They started selling red fish in our market, I bought pink salmon, two pieces. And baked a pie. It turned out pretty well. I treated all my friends and guests. Everyone seemed to like it. And the fish is fresh and delicious.

Today, Mom went with me to the pre-trial detention center to give you a program. She'll bring you some goodies next week. Dad wanted to come with us too, but we persuaded him to stay at home. So he and Mom will come to you next week together. That seems to be all the news.

Everything is the same for us. There will be an appeal court in the regional court in your case in a week. It's a pity they won't bring you, otherwise we would have met again.

My dear, gentle and affectionate, I congratulate you on the first year of our young family. It is sad, of course, and sad that we will not spend this day together. But please remember that I love you very, very, very much! And you are always in my heart! And your picture is on my wall. So I always see her in the morning and admire what a wonderful husband you are! The best in the world!! My best gift you could wish for! I love you, my golden treasure!"

And here is a verse from my beloved wife:

"I love you as the sun of May loves you.

Blooming apple trees pinkish snow;

I love you as I love you, dying away,

The sea wave is an inaccessible breg.

I love you as I love you at high tide

The night moon is a proud ocean,

How the drooping willow loves the pond,

How the mountains love the blue mist.

How echo loves a mountain gorge,

How the lily of the valley loves a gentle spring,

Like tears— sadness,

How ringing laughter is fun,

So I'm doomed to love!

Happy New year to you!

My dear, my kind, my gentle, my dear husband!

Love you! Love you! I love you!"

Your Honor, this is an excerpt from the lives of those who are unreasonably persecuted and accused of something we did not do. We are not extremists and we did not plan this. I hope I've managed to destroy at least some of the myths about us. After all, we are learning to show love in the family and maintain these relationships, as can be seen from these words from my wife's letter. Imagine how hard it was for her when the FSB was not allowed to correspond, and what happiness she felt when she received a letter from me! Unfounded erroneous accusations led to sad consequences, to separations. Also, because of this, I was fired from my job at an orphanage.

Do not allow repeated decisions leading to such troubles. Each of us did not deserve these accusations. Whatever decision you make, I am sure that Jehovah will resolve this issue at the most appropriate time.

I would like to share a poem that I wrote while in jail, so that you have the opportunity to feel what every person feels who is unreasonably and wrongly accused and is not allowed to peacefully exercise their legitimate right guaranteed by Article 28 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation:

We look at the beautiful creations, and we learn the Love of Jehovah through them. And he wants us all to love like that. Love is unity for all of us.

But in the world, the enemy of Jehovah Wants everything to be separated in malice And the world to come to that — suffering, pain. After all, the power still belongs to him.

And nowadays they throw you in prison for love, For doing good in life, Walking according to God's bright commandments, Bringing smiles, happiness and peace!

But for this — a window with a grille. And the doors are chained, and there are many locks So that the light of love does not shine, And everyone forgets God.

But is it possible to hide in the light? When it is dark, he is the source of happiness, He illuminates the world with warm love And gives everyone a ray of hope!

Freedom is where the spirit of Jehovah is, So our prison will not extinguish the light! Jehovah hears, cares And will soon release his friends!

Who would call Jehovah's friends an extremist? He hears accusations from false lips. And by the power of love, our Father, God the Judge, will justify all his friends!

He will give peace, the embrace of brothers! To the beloved wives of dear husbands! Parents of their beloved children! And a new world without wars and prisons and without evil — That's the happiness of eternal life, forever!

Your Honor, I still feel that way. I don't understand what my extremism is? There was no evidence of extremism. A similar thought was expressed by the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation: if there is nothing extremist in the cases of people who gather together, then this is not extremism and must be justified.

In conclusion, I would like to share one of the promises of Jehovah's God that attracted me, and I am waiting for the fulfillment of this promise and imagine how all of us — you, Marina Nikolaevna, and you, Elina Olegovna, and you, the secretary and lawyers, and you, Your Honor, Tatyana Vyacheslavovna — will be there. And we will gather around the table and remember with a smile these events that led to the name of Jehovah being sanctified. This is exactly what Jesus taught in the famous prayer "Our Father": "Our heavenly Father, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, may thy will be done on earth."

Isaiah 65:21-25 says: "People will build houses and live in them, they will plant vineyards and eat their fruits. It will not happen that they will build, but others will live, plant, and there will be others. The life of my people will be as long as the life of a tree, and my chosen ones will enjoy all the fruits of their labor. They will not work in vain, and the children they will have will not suffer. After all, they and their descendants are a people blessed by Jehovah. Before they call, I will answer. They'll still be talking, but I'll already hear it. The wolf and the lamb will graze together, the lion, like the bull, will eat straw, and the snake will feed on the dust of the earth. They will not cause harm and harm throughout my holy mountain," says Jehovah."

Once again, Your Honor, faith in such promises cannot be extremism, nor can my opportunity, given by the Constitution, be shared with anyone who wants to accept these words of Jehovah God. I ask you to make a fair decision and acquit my friends and me!

Summary of the case

Region:

Magadan region

Locality:

Magadan

What is suspected of:

According to investigators, he conducted divine services together with others, which is interpreted as "organizing the activities of an extremist organization"

Criminal case number:

11807440001000013

Initiated:

May 30, 2018

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

The number of the case in court:

1-6/2024 (1-12/2023, 1-220/2022)

Court of First instance:

Magadan City Court of the Magadan region

Judge of the Court of first instance:

Tatyana Belaeva