The last word of the defendant Andrey Martynov in Alatyr

 RUSSIA 

The last word of the defendant Andrey Martynov in Alatyr

December 12, 2022

Chuvashia

From the courtroom

In his last speech, the believer recalled the persecution of Christians in ancient Rome and the USSR and concluded: "Paradoxically, but this is a fact: those who called for peace, love, and observance of the norms of God were recognized as terrorists, criminals… There is something similar in our business."

Transcript of the court session in the Alatyrsky District Court of the Chuvash Republic dated 12.12.2022 in the case 1-114/2022 on charges of Martynov Andrey Vladimirovich and others. of committing a crime under Part 1 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Martynov Andrey Vladimirovich:

Dear Court, Before I say my last word, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all those present in this Hall. Thank you, Ivan Alexandrovich, for treating me with respect, for being treated with understanding and care throughout the entire process. This gives me hope for a fair solution in this difficult case. Thanks to the secretary for the responsible performance of his duties, the case materials were always provided. I thank the representative of the prosecutor's office for the humane and respectful attitude towards me and my faith.

Thank you for the professional help of my lawyer, Svetlana Viktorovna, for defending me in this trial. And thanks to our other defenders too, for their open-mindedness towards me and my brothers and sisters in the faith. Of course, thanks to my spiritual relatives for their constant support and courage. Although my wife is also here as a defendant, special thanks to her for her support during these difficult 1 year and 5 months of the case.

Your Honor, this is most likely the first time you have had to consider a criminal case against people who profess the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses. This is also the first time I have to testify in such an institution, to talk about my faith. Of course, this is not the right place for me. And on the other hand, I read the name of this room — it says "House of Justice" on the facade of the building. It helped me to look at things from a different angle.

You know, about today's and similar events taking place in our country, it is written in the Holy Scriptures: "And this gospel of the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole universe, as a witness to all nations" (Matthew 24:14). This is the explanation and guidance of the most important person, the leader of Christians, Jesus Christ. He said what Christians need to focus on — and in court, too — (in addition to protection), namely, to tell about the plan of God Jehovah regarding people and the earth. This is exactly what Jesus Christ did when he lived among people.

After all, Jesus Christ has a very important role in God's plan. God Jehovah endowed Jesus Christ with great power, He appointed him the king of the Kingdom, for which millions of people around the world pray. There is no doubt that most of us are familiar with such words from Jesus' prayer to his Father: "Our heavenly Father, may your name be hallowed. May your kingdom come" (Matthew 6:9, 10). Even the name Jesus means "Jehovah salvation," and Christ is a title, meaning "anointed one," that is, God's chosen king for this Kingdom.

I want to take the opportunity to talk about it. Maybe I wouldn't have been able to meet the respectable people present here on the street.

At one time, Jesus organized such preaching activities and instructed those who believe in him to tell all people about Jehovah God and his intentions. And he not only gave such a command, but also did it himself. At first with 12 people, it was 12 apostles, then there were already 70 such disciples. They served God together with Jesus Christ, walking through the towns and villages of that area. What is even more remarkable, they all preached, sang songs praising Jehovah God, listened to the sermons and teachings of Jesus Christ (the famous Sermon on the Mount), even had a donation box, gathered together in large numbers (more than 500 people), participated in an important holiday for Christians, which Jesus introduced for his followers. This is the Supper of remembrance of his death, where there was unleavened bread and red wine. All these are symbols: bread is the sinless body of Jesus Christ, wine is his shed blood for the redemption of all mankind. And this is interesting — all these people did not form any organization as a legal entity, but they all carried out the command of God and the guidance of Jesus Christ in an organized manner.

To this day, a huge number of people in our country also worship Jesus Christ and call themselves Christians. My co-religionists and I are also Christians, and we understand that to be a Christian, i.e. a follower of Jesus Christ, one must not only believe that he was on earth and taught people the laws of God, but also act as he taught and did himself.

Thus, in the Holy Scriptures, Jesus conveyed the command of God himself, his Father: "He answered and said to them, Have you not read that He who created man and woman in the beginning created them? And he said, Therefore a man will leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. So that they are no longer two, but one flesh. So, let no man separate what God has combined" (Matthew 19:4-6). If God himself, through his Son, Jesus Christ, gave the command to people not to break off family relations for any reason, then who am I to encourage co-religionists to break off family relations?

Another place says: "Jesus answered and said to them, Give Caesar's things to Caesar, and God's things to God" (Mark 12:17). Today, Christians, Jehovah's Witnesses, are diligently trying to pay all taxes, not to be in opposition to the government, do not participate in strikes, rallies, revolutions. This corresponds to the command: "Remind them to obey and submit to superiors and authorities, to be ready for any good deed. To slander no one, not to be quarrelsome, but quiet, and to show all gentleness to all people" (Titus 3:1, 2).

And all that Jesus told, what he taught people and his disciples, showing miracles thanks to the power received from God — all this was approved by Jehovah God. "While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold, a voice from the cloud saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased: Listen to Him" (Matthew 17:5).

In the 1st century A.D., Jesus called his disciples brothers, and women, of course, sisters, i.e. they were connected by a spiritual relationship comparable to fraternal ones. "For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother and sister and mother" (Matthew 12:50). As we can see, such fraternal bonds are based on the love of God.

In the criminal case that is being conducted against us, all this is distorted. The following words appear in the case: "adherents", "recruited". According to the definition of Ozhegov's dictionary: "adept" is an adherent, follower of some doctrine. It would seem to be a good definition. But today, in most cases, it has a negative connotation in relation to religious minorities. The word "recruit", according to Krylov's dictionary, is borrowed from Polish and German and means "recruit soldiers". An interesting comparison: According to Jesus Christ, his followers are brothers and sisters; According to the investigation, they were recruited by adherents. In the first case, intimacy, unity, and love are felt. In the second, there is bureaucracy, greed, belligerence (the feeling that this is closer to extremism).

Now is the time to tell you how I ended up in the spiritual brotherhood of followers of Jesus Christ, in other words, I became a Jehovah's Witness. By about the age of 30, probably, like many, I lived, worked, spent my young time, spent my health on pleasant (as it seemed) things: alcohol, smoking, etc. In general, after some time, becoming a slave to these habits, I felt an emptiness in my life. Such thoughts began to visit: "If I die, it is unlikely that anyone will feel bad from this, unless the parents ... And the pain passes over time." In short, I didn't see the point in my life. Of course, life brightened up when I met my future wife, meaning reappeared: love, caring for others.

But to such questions: why is there so little good in a person's short life? why are people still unable to overcome disease, old age, and death, even though hundreds of scientists have been working on this for hundreds of years? — and I still didn't have any answers for them.

I will not go into details of how this happened, but one person who, thanks to the Bible, has already found answers to his questions, began to help my wife and me find answers to our questions in this book (not to recruit adherents). He spent his personal time and energy searching for them in the Bible and showing them to us.

You know, everything has become obvious. Although everything was not always clear, but over time, through personal study, reflection and, of course, the application of biblical knowledge in my life, I became convinced of its accuracy, correctness, and practicality.

Studying the Bible has also helped me to quit addictions. Please do not think that by doing this I am somehow elevating myself above others. I have no doubt that in this hall, in addition to Jehovah's Witnesses, there are people who lead a healthy lifestyle, are respected people, show good qualities that I would also like to learn how to show. And you have your own meaning in life, some kind of goal. It's just that you and I look at life from different points of view. My co-religionists and I looked at everything that was happening and the future from the point of view of the Bible, which records the intentions of Jehovah God regarding the future, the Earth and humanity.

And this future is wonderful! God promises to restore the Earth for a joyful and happy life on it, to eliminate the problems of people. There will be a favorite job, practical comfortable housing, excellent health, there will be no death, and much more that we can only dream of. "For those who do evil will be destroyed, but those who trust in the Lord will inherit the earth. A little more, and the wicked will not be; you look at his place, and he is gone… The righteous will inherit the earth and live on it forever" (Psalm 36:9, 10, 29).

Summary of the case

Region:

Chuvashia

Locality:

Alatyr

What is suspected:

According to the investigation, "he organized religious performances and worship services, carried out preaching activities in order to spread the teachings of Jehovah's Witnesses."

Criminal case number:

12107970001000027

Case initiated:

June 16, 2021

Current stage of the case:

The verdict has entered into force

Investigating:

Investigative department of the Federal Security Service of Russia for the Chuvash Republic

Articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation:

282.2 (1.1), 282.2 (2), 282.2 (1)

The number of the case in court:

1-114/2022

The Court of First Instance:

Alatyrsky District Court of the Chuvash Republic

Judge of the Court of first instance:

Ivan Konchulizov