The last word of Anatoly Lyamo in Teikov February 22, 2024

 Russia

The last word of Anatoly Lyamo in Teikov

February 22, 2024

Ivanovo region

Speaking before the court, the believer quoted the words of Jesus Christ that his followers would be persecuted. Anatoly continued: "Even criminal prosecution can be called an element of the doctrine of Jehovah's Witnesses, and creeds cannot be the subject of judicial proceedings."

Transcript of the court session in the Teikovsky District Court of the Ivanovo region dated 02/22/2024 in the case 1-1/2024 (1-24/2023) on charges of Anatoly Ivanovich Lyamo and others of committing a crime under Part 1 of Articles 282.2, 282.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Anatoly Ivanovich Lyamo: Dear court, dear participants in the process! I want to start my last word with words of gratitude. First of all, I want to thank you, Your Honor, for your obvious desire to delve into and understand this case, which is not typical for you, and for your great patience with us, the defendants, which was also obvious. I also want to thank the prosecution for their open-minded attitude to the case. I have many times drawn attention to those cases when the prosecutor did not object to the petitions of the defense. I thank Secretary Olga Nikolaevna Belova for her sincere and truly kind attitude towards people, regardless of their status. I thank our defender, who has consistently provided us with comprehensive support over the past years. I would like to express my gratitude in a special way to my wife, who has supported me throughout these difficult years. Thanks to all my friends who came here in hot and cold weather to support us here in court. I've never met some of them before.

During the court sessions, the question repeatedly arose as to whether Jehovah's Witnesses were prohibited from holding their worship meetings. Obviously, such meetings are not prohibited, because with the help of them, Jehovah's Witnesses precisely realize the right set forth in Article 28 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, which says: "Everyone is guaranteed freedom of conscience, freedom of religion, including the right to profess individually or jointly with others any religion or not to profess any, freely choose, have and to spread religious and other beliefs and act in accordance with them."

Everything that the prosecution presented as a continuation of the activities of a banned organization actually refers exclusively to worship services that are not prohibited in Russia. As I mentioned during my testimony, the presiding judge several times drew the prosecutor's attention to the fact that the creeds and ideology of Jehovah's Witnesses are not the subject of judicial proceedings, when the prosecutor, for example, focused on the chants or the fact that the name of God Jehovah sounds in the songs. But nevertheless, despite the fact that creeds are not the subject of research, the prosecution, I believe, mistakenly tried to present everything that relates specifically to the creeds and liturgical practices of Jehovah's Witnesses as a violation of the law on extremism. Although in reality this is the usual realization of the right to freedom of conscience for Jehovah's Witnesses, implemented in the context of Article 28. The Constitution of the Russian Federation. Let's try to figure out what exactly the Supreme Court has banned and what has not.

The court banned the activities of the Religious Association "Management Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia" and local religious organizations, which, according to the court, were a structural unit of the Management Center. That's all. Is it not obvious that the UC is able to carry out its activities only as an officially registered legal entity that has a bank account, real estate, various licenses and certificates issued by government agencies, its representative acting without a power of attorney? In principle, a legal entity cannot exist without all these attributes. Therefore, I claim that neither the religious organization "Management Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia" nor the local religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses in Teikovo could exist in principle, physically, after their liquidation. And the religious group of Jehovah's Witnesses from Teikov has never been on the list of organizations banned in the territory of the Russian Federation, as alleged in the indictment. Confirmation of this fact is that there is not a single religious group of Jehovah's Witnesses on the list of the Ministry of Justice among extremist organizations, including in the city of Teykovo (only legal entities). Although there are religious groups (not legal entities) belonging to other faiths on this list.

Your Honor, it is up to you to evaluate what we saw on the video of the ORM "Surveillance" and other documents, and decide whether it was extremism or peaceful worship.

Was I surprised when law enforcement officers came to search me on April 11, 2020? In general, no. The only surprise was that they came in the midst of a pandemic. That's what I didn't expect. Why wasn't I surprised? Because as soon as I started studying the Bible in 1994, it was from the Bible that I learned that persecution for faith is not only possible, but it will definitely happen. How did I come to this conclusion? I just read the words spoken by Jesus Christ: "I am sending you like sheep to wolves, so be careful like snakes and artless like pigeons. Beware of people, because they will put you on trial and whip you" (Matthew 10:16-18**).**

Someone may be ironic about what is written in the Bible, and it is to such words of Jesus, but let's face the facts. Let's pay attention only to the situation with the persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in modern Russia. Since 2017, 2,058 searches have been conducted in believers' homes, 183 of which took place only in the past 2023. To date, Russia already has 789 defendants in criminal cases similar to ours.

Why are all these people suffering? For refusing to stop professing their religious beliefs. That's exactly how it is in my case. Let me give you an example: on December 24, 2021, an operational officer, Stanislav Sergeevich Trunichev, met with me and offered to renounce his religious beliefs so that the case against me would be dismissed. He said that since the law provides for the termination of criminal prosecution if a person is accused for the first time under article 282 and voluntarily refuses to continue the activity for which he is being prosecuted, it is better for me to do so and abandon this activity. Of course, he did not literally say "Anatoly Ivanovich, you need to stop professing your religious beliefs," but in my case, all that he suggested means stopping meeting with friends to discuss the Bible, prayers and religious songs together. After all, we did not see anything else in the case file — no real crimes or victims, only false and far-fetched accusations.

False and far-fetched accusations against Jehovah's Witnesses have always been the basis of their persecution, no matter what country it happens in. And Jehovah's Witnesses were persecuted periodically in different countries. Here is an example from Germany of the last century. Already in the 1920s, the German press wrote that the activities of Jehovah's Witnesses were funded by Jews or Freemasons in order to carry out the Bolshevik revolution. Of course, that wasn't true. But soon after Hitler was elected as the new chancellor, many Jehovah's Witnesses were fired from their jobs for various reasons, including for refusing to pronounce the greeting "heil Hitler". On April 24, 1933, the main office of Jehovah's Witnesses in Magdeburg was seized and sealed by the police, while all property located there was confiscated. The first few groups of Jehovah's Witnesses were sent to concentration camps back in 1935.

Judges, police and the Gestapo received special notices about the danger posed by Jehovah's Witnesses. Lawyers were particularly informed through publications in law journals about what sentences should be imposed against Jehovah's Witnesses. Later, on June 24, 1936, a special detachment was created in the Gestapo to fight Jehovah's Witnesses.

Preaching according to the usual method for Jehovah's Witnesses "from house to house" became more and more dangerous. However, despite the ban, they continued their activities in small groups, while being constantly ready to leave the territory in the event of the arrival of the Gestapo. Literature has become impossible to publish in Germany. The meetings were reduced to 5-7 people in order not to attract attention.

All this was accompanied by a broad propaganda campaign against Jehovah's Witnesses. For example, the Nazi newspaper Hamburger Tagesblatt, in its April 13, 1938 issue, calling Jehovah's Witnesses a "Jewish pacifist sect," spread information that believers deify Stalin as Jehovah's representative on earth. Of course, it was all a lie. Nevertheless, thousands of Jehovah's Witnesses were imprisoned in concentration camps, and many died or were executed there. It is noteworthy that, unlike other prisoners, Jehovah's Witnesses were given the opportunity to avoid imprisonment if they renounced their faith in writing.

Adolf Hitler personally gave orders aimed at the destruction of Jehovah's Witnesses. One day he shouted, referring to Jehovah's Witnesses: "This brat will be exterminated in Germany!" But Hitler and his National Socialists were exterminated, and Jehovah's Witnesses still gather at thousands of congresses, at those stadiums where the Fuhrer spoke.

But the story of the suffering of Jehovah's Witnesses did not end there. After the end of World War II, in November 1950, USSR Minister of State Security Viktor Abakumov presented Joseph Stalin with a plan for the deportation of believers, and Stalin approved the implementation of this plan for March—April 1951. And in April 1951, the so-called Operation North began. 3,000 Jehovah's Witnesses who lived in the western regions of the country were put into wagons in which cattle had previously been transported and taken to Irkutsk, Tomsk regions, Krasnoyarsk Territory and other regions of Siberia. Barracks without partitions, abandoned huts, and former camps for prisoners were provided as housing. At first, many believers had to live in tents and huts, suffering from the cold. As a result of the shock, due to malnutrition and cold in the first months, the weakest and oldest died.

During the Khrushchev thaw, the state made great allowances for various groups of believers, but not for Jehovah's Witnesses. They continued to be sentenced to imprisonment. Some — for terms up to 25 years. […]

Were Jehovah's Witnesses discouraged by what was happening to them? In general, no. Why? Because they were warned in advance about this state of affairs. Back in the 1st century AD, Jesus Christ said the words that were later recorded in the Bible: "Blessed are you when people hate you and when they excommunicate you, and revile you, and carry your name as dishonorable for the Son of Man" (Gospel of Luke chapter 6, text 22).

Do Jehovah's Witnesses feel a sense of hatred or a desire to take revenge on those who participate in their persecution in one way or another? Not either. Because it would not be consistent with the teachings of the Bible that they adhere to. The Bible says, "Bless those who persecute you, bless, not curse" (Romans 12:14).

Eventually, the 90s came and the service of Jehovah God, first in the Soviet Union and later in the Russian Federation, was allowed. And in 1996, Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 378 "On measures for the rehabilitation of clergy and believers who have become victims of unjustified repression" was issued. Here are some thoughts from this Decree: "In order to restore justice, the legitimate rights of Russian citizens to freedom of conscience and religion, guided by a sense of repentance, based on the conclusions of the Commission under the President of the Russian Federation for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Political Repression, I decree:

1. To condemn the long-term terror unleashed by the Bolshevik party-Soviet regime against the clergy and believers of all faiths.

2. The Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation, together with the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, shall carry out the rehabilitation of Russian citizens who have been unreasonably accused of political, state and criminal offenses, deprived of liberty, subjected to other deprivations and restrictions of rights in connection with their religious activities and beliefs.

3. The Government of the Russian Federation, other federal executive authorities, executive authorities of the subjects of the Russian Federation and local self-government bodies shall assist believers in the restoration of religious buildings, the return of property seized from churches, mosques, synagogues, and other religious institutions."

A small remark: in September 2017, I had a chance to talk with an elderly Jehovah's Witness who was exiled to the Irkutsk region in 1951 and spent many years in prison for his faith. At the time I talked to him, he was 84 years old. I asked him if he had any benefits from the state in connection with this decree. He replied to me that the state pays him 50% of the cost of utilities as a rehabilitated person. And he added that at the same time his house was being monitored. That's the paradox.

Next, a very simple and win-win scheme is included. A very important and useful law is being taken, which is extremely necessary in our difficult times — the law "On Countering extremist activities" — and is being used in the fight against the most peaceful and farthest from extremism people in the country. Publications of Jehovah's Witnesses with the most innocuous content are taken and declared extremist. For example, one magazine was included in the list of extremist materials only because it published a quote from volume 34 of the complete works of the classic of world literature Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy. This volume itself was not included in the list.

It is clear that Jehovah's Witnesses, as law-abiding citizens, have stopped distributing publications included in the federal list of extremist materials. But this did not save them from problems. Unscrupulous law enforcement officials simply began to plant such publications in the worship buildings of Jehovah's Witnesses in order to eventually create the basis for the liquidation of the organization. And such foundations have been created. Within 7.5 years, 8 local religious organizations were liquidated by decisions of various courts on the basis of falsified evidence. And so we came to April 20th, 2017. The evidence against us was also falsified, as we have already told the court when testifying. That's how we got to the dock.

Does any of the defendants feel hatred or a desire to take revenge on those who participated in the organization of our persecution? No. Because over the years of studying the Bible, we have learned quite well the words spoken in it: "Romans 12:17-21: "Do not repay evil for evil to anyone. Take into account what all people consider good. As far as possible on your part, be at peace with everyone. Do not avenge yourself, dear brothers, but leave it to God to vent his anger, because it is written: "Vengeance is upon me, I will repay," says Jehovah." And again: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him, if he wants to drink, give him a drink, because by doing so, you will soften his heart." Do not be defeated by evil, but defeat evil with good."

Moreover, we have an example from history. Almost 2,000 years ago, when Jesus Christ was executed, he said to those who participated in the execution: "Father, forgive them, because they do not know what they are doing" (Luke 23:34). Of course, Jesus' words "they do not know what they are doing" do not mean that he considered these people ignorant. Jesus understood that these people did not know who he was, did not understand what his role was in God's intentions, and therefore had an appropriate attitude towards him. So did the Roman procurator Pontius Pilate, described in the Bible, who made the final decision regarding the fate of Jesus. He sentenced him to death, although he knew that the defendant was not guilty of anything.

The words of Pontius Pilate, indicating that he was aware of Jesus' innocence, were recorded in the Bible by the historian Luke in the Gospel of the same name: "Then Pilate called together the senior priests, superiors and the people and said: "You have brought this man to me and claim that he incites the people to revolt. I questioned him in front of you and saw that he is innocent of what you accuse him of. Herod was also convinced that he was innocent, because he sent him back to us. So this man didn't do anything that deserved to die. Therefore, I will have him punished and then I will release him." But everyone screamed: "Death to him!"" (Luke 23:13-18).

Pilate understood that the accusation against Jesus was fabricated, that the false witnesses were adjusting their testimony to what their leaders demanded of them. But he couldn't make another decision because the case was high-profile. There were many interested parties behind the scenes, and if he had made a different decision, it could have had a negative impact on his career. Therefore, in order to somehow show his disagreement with those who demanded to condemn Jesus, Pilate, as it is written in the Bible, washed his hands.

Why did I tell you about this? Because shortly before his arrest, Jesus, addressing his followers, said: "Remember what I told you: a slave is no bigger than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they have kept my word, they will keep yours" (John 15:20). According to Jesus, nothing unusual is happening. For what purpose this is happening, Jesus said in chapter 10 of the Gospel of Matthew. There he explained that his followers "will be put on trial..." and "will be led to rulers and kings so that they, as well as people from other nations, will hear [about him]."

In other words, Jesus wants everyone to know what God's intention is with regard to people living on Earth, and be able to make an informed choice whether to take the side of the Creator or not. After all, God loves all people as his creatures, regardless of their social status. Whether it's a homeless person, a machine worker, a judge, a prosecutor, or the president. He wants to make it clear to everyone that he, as the Creator, has a specific goal for us, people, and He will definitely achieve it.

The persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses has never achieved the goal that the persecutors set for themselves. Namely, to eradicate the worship of Jehovah God. Everything was exactly the opposite. In Germany, many people who were in concentration camps with the Jehovah's Witness and heard the message from the Bible from them later began to adhere to this creed themselves. As a result, after the war, the number of Jehovah's Witnesses in Germany increased several times. The same thing happened in the Soviet Union: few people would have voluntarily gone to Siberia to tell people about the Bible, but the authorities themselves took the Witnesses to this harsh region, and they multiplied there like seeds. The very first Hall of the Kingdom was built in Siberia. At the end of World War II, there were about 4,000 Jehovah's Witnesses in the USSR, and by 1991 their number had increased to 40,000. And this is during the time of the most severe persecution.

There is an instructive historical message in the Bible. When the first Christians began to preach about Jesus, those who were involved in his execution did not like it at all. They arrested the students and took them to the courtroom. That's what happened there: "But then a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, respected by all the people, rose up and ordered the apostles to be brought out for a while. Then he said, "Israelis, think carefully before you do anything with these people. Some time ago, Fevda appeared, who called himself the great, and about 400 people joined him. But he was killed, and all his followers scattered and disappeared. After him, during the census, Judas the Galilean appeared and took some of them with him. But he also died, and all his followers fled. That's why I'm telling you: leave these people alone, don't touch them. After all, if this plan or business is from people, then it will collapse, and if it is from God, you will not be able to destroy it. Otherwise, it may turn out that you are fighting with God himself" (Acts 5:34-39).

Your Honor, with my last word, I wanted to say that even criminal prosecution can be called an element of the doctrine of Jehovah's Witnesses, and creeds cannot be the subject of judicial proceedings. We have also shown that Jehovah's Witnesses are fundamentally subordinate to state authorities on the basis of their religious beliefs. Of course, if the demands of the authorities do not differ from the norms of God. This has sometimes happened in history. For example, when in Nazi Germany, men of Jehovah's Witnesses were required to take up arms and go to the eastern front to kill Russians, Belarusians and representatives of other peoples of the USSR, Jehovah's Witnesses refused, as this went against what the Bible teaches

In our case, the situation is as follows. The authorities have liquidated legal entities that have been used by Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia for some time. We had no right to disobey and continue to use these legal structures, because they do not belong to us. And there was no evidence that any of the defendants continued the activities of the MRO or the CC to the court. And worship or service to God, as I have already said, does not belong to the state and the state itself does not object to this. The performance of religious songs and prayers is not one of the signs of extremist activity, it is part of the beliefs of Jehovah's Witnesses and cannot be a crime.

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:

Ivanovo region

Locality:

Teykovo

What is suspected of:

According to the investigation, "they intentionally participated in the implementation of the goals of the religious organization "Jehovah's Witnesses in Teykovo" by organizing and directing events... conducting propaganda of its activities"

Criminal case number:

12001240014000096

Case initiated:

April 10, 2020

The current stage of the case:

Appeal

Is being investigated by:

The account of the SU of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in the Ivanovo region

Articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation:

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

Case number in court:

1-1/2024 (1-24/2023)

Court of First Instance:

Teikovsky District Court of the Ivanovo region

Judge of the Court of First instance:

Sergey Kochetkov