The last word of the defendant Alexander Seredkin in Novosibirsk

 RUSSIA 

The last word of the defendant Alexander Seredkin in Novosibirsk

November 15, 2022

Novosibirsk region

From the courtroom

Addressing the court, the 68-year-old believer stated: "I am sure that all these accusations of extremism against Jehovah's Witnesses are a monstrous mistake. My co-religionists and I have never harbored criminal thoughts, we have no goals to overthrow the government or resist it."

Transcript of the court session in the Oktyabrsky District Court of Novosibirsk dated 11/15/2022 in case 1-277/2022 on charges of Seredkin Alexander Ivanovich of committing a crime under Part 1 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Seredkin Alexander Ivanovich:

Dear Court, Let me begin my last word with words of gratitude to you, Evgeny Sergeevich, for trying to understand the essence of my case. You listened attentively and patiently when I read out the comments and my testimony, and never interrupted me. This says a lot about your professionalism. Thank you!

I also want to thank Assistant Judge Marina for treating me with respect. You have always answered all my questions willingly and kindly.

I also want to thank the assistant prosecutor for his patience and attention to me. I have noticed that you have no prejudice or dislike either for me personally or for the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses. Thank you!

Thank you, Vladimir Vladimirovich, for protecting me for 3.5 years now. You tried to figure it out, even though it was the first time you came across the Jehovah's Witness case. You calmly and respectfully explained to me all the legal details regarding my case. Thank you again!

I am grateful to my wife for being by my side all this time. No matter how difficult it was for you, you have always been a support for me during this difficult time for you and me.

I am grateful to my friends, all those whom I did not even know. They all supported me in word and deed. Dear friends, your presence here is very encouraging to me!

Why am I standing here in front of you now? Just because I'm being judged for my peaceful religious beliefs. This is clearly visible from the case file. It shows that I met with friends and talked about spiritual topics. Since the criminal case was initiated solely because of my religious affiliation, I think it would be appropriate if I explained my beliefs to the court. In other words, I want to tell you about my motives, because in any court case, motives are of great importance.

As you already know, I was raised in a non-religious family. How did I become a believer? It all started with the usual questions that anyone asks at different periods of their life. I think everyone here has also asked such questions at least once.: How did people come to be? What are we living for? Why don't we want to die? What is the meaning of life?

Although I have read many books, I have not found satisfactory answers in them. When I got acquainted with Jehovah's Witnesses, I decided to read their literature as well. In the very first book that I picked up, the question was considered: how did people appear, through evolution or creation? In it, I noticed that scientific information and biblical thoughts are closely intertwined. For example, there is a simple but very logical thought in the Bible. In the Epistle to the Hebrews, in the 3rd chapter, the 4th verse, it is written: "Every house has a builder, and the one who built everything is God." Every house has builders; every painting has its own artist; The watch has its own master.

Here an example comes to mind: walking through the forest and seeing a house, even if it is small, we do not have the idea that it appeared here by itself. Although there are many trees around, we understand that they could not have accidentally fallen in such a way as to make a house. Although we do not know who built it, it is obvious that this is some kind of person who has the necessary knowledge and skills to build a house. So, moreover, our unique Universe and the Earth could not have appeared by themselves, given how everything is wisely and clearly arranged. Whoever created this must have incredible knowledge and wisdom, which we still have to go and go. The more I thought about it, the more clearly I realized that we have a Creator.

If we look away from the scale of the universe and look at the structure of the human cell, then this is generally something amazing. It can be compared to an entire factory, and in this factory they manufacture and assemble exactly the same factory. How could such an amazing process have appeared and started on its own without the participation of a reasonable leader? I came to the conclusion that a human cell could not have appeared on its own. This simple comparison prompted me to look for more reasons for the existence of an intelligent Creator.

What else has strengthened my trust in the Bible? In 1947, ancient Jewish manuscripts were found in the Dead Sea area in the caves of Qumran, among them the scroll of the prophet Isaiah, who lived in the VIII century BC. The Prophet Isaiah wrote the following words: "There is one who lives above the circle of the earth" (Isaiah 40:22). The word translated as "circle" means "ball" in the original language. What a bold statement, how could a simple person know that? This was contrary to the ideas adopted at the time. It was only in the sixth century BC that the Greek philosopher Pythagoras suggested that the earth was a ball. He only assumed, and for sure it became known much later.

In the Bible, in Job 26:7, it is written: "God spread the northern sky over the void, suspended the earth on nothing." I was surprised at how accurately it describes that the earth has no visible support, and this is contrary to the opinion that existed at that time. And this, for a second, is 1,500 BC (3,500 years ago). It was then that the prophet Moses wrote down these words. For many centuries after writing these words, people made all sorts of assumptions about the structure of the earth, they all believed that the Earth should have a support. It was only in 1687 that the scientist Isaac Newton realized that the earth was not hanging on anything. This is three thousand years after Moses. The Bible was clearly ahead of scientific discoveries. And why? Because God himself directed its writing.

The Creator, who personally created this planet, naturally knows how it works and how it functions. These biblical texts helped me gain confidence in the Bible. And the Bible, in turn, helped me develop faith in Jehovah God.

In the very first chapter, right on the first page of the Bible, very simple words are written: "And God created man in his own image, created him in the image of God. He created man and woman" (Genesis 1:27). It seems nothing special, well-known words, but if you think about it, they explain a lot. Of all living beings on our planet, only humans are individuals, have a conscience, and moral qualities such as love and justice. We love beauty and art, we can talk and reason, all this makes us very different from animals. But why? Because God created us in his image, he himself possesses all these qualities and abilities and has lovingly endowed us with them. We are children of God.

These reflections made me feel grateful, I wanted to learn more about our Creator: who is he? what's his name? What prompted him to share his life? What was his plan for the earth and people? and much more.

To begin with, I found out that our Creator has a personal name. And if you think about it, this is not surprising: we all give names to our children, all people have names. For centuries, people have been striving to be remembered, they wanted to somehow imprint their name in history. So does our Creator, who created us in his image, have no name? It sounds absurd. Of course, God must have his own name! Even Jesus Christ began his exemplary prayer with the well-known words: "Our Father who art in heaven. Yes, hallowed be Thy name." This is recorded in the Gospel of Matthew 6:9. It follows from these words that God has a personal name and it must be sanctified. And since Jesus begins an exemplary prayer with these very words, it is clear that this was of great importance for Jesus.

Later, Jesus said these words: "Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you, and they know that you sent me. I have revealed your name to them and I will continue to reveal it" (John 17:25, 26). It can be seen here that Jesus considered it his duty to tell others about God and his name.

What name are we talking about? This can be found out by opening Exodus 6:3: "I appeared to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob with the name "God Almighty", but with My name "Lord" (footnote "Jehovah") I did not reveal myself to them" (here the name of God Jehovah is indicated in the footnote). As I learned later, the Name of Jehovah God can be found in other translations of the Bible, for example, in the translation of Archimandrite Macarius, the translation of G. P. Pavsky, the Synodal translation.

Nowadays, few people use the personal name of God — many simply do not know it — but if you pay attention to the works of Russian classics, you can see that in previous years it was a well-known fact. The personal name of the God Jehovah can be found in the works of Alexander Pushkin, Leo Tolstoy, Ivan Turgenev, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Alexander Kuprin, Sergei Yesenin, Vladimir Mayakovsky and many others. I want to quote a short excerpt from Nikolai Karamzin's work "The Walk": "Our brothers! — I dare to call you by this name, because we were created by the same great God who created you, and He reveals Himself to us in His deeds — our brethren who live with us in the single spacious house of our Father! "for all the worlds together make up one great house, which is ruled by Jehovah." If all these writers used the name of God Jehovah, then can we call them extremists? And can their literature be called extremist?

But what does the name Jehovah's Witnesses mean, where did it come from? It's very simple — this name is taken from the Bible itself. In the book of Revelation, in the 3rd chapter, the 14th verse says: "This is what Amen says, a faithful and reliable witness, the first creation of God." The first creation of God is Jesus, and here he is called a "witness" because he testified about God.

The rest of the believers in Jehovah are also said to be "witnesses": "You are my witnesses," says Jehovah, "My servant, whom I have chosen so that you may know me, believe in me, and understand that I am the same. There was no God before me, and there is no God who came after me" (Isaiah 43:10).

Those who call themselves Jehovah's Witnesses took this name for themselves in 1931, as they realized that the main goal is to help other people to know God as a person, in other words, to testify about him.

How have I been influenced by knowledge from the Bible? "Imitate God, because you are his beloved children," it is written in Ephesians, chapter 5, verse 1. These words made me think: after all, if we are created in the image of God, then it is even natural for us to develop the qualities that our Creator possesses. I wanted to learn more about his qualities and imitate them. Some of them are listed in Galatians, 5th chapter, 22nd and 23rd verses: "And the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control." Dear court, you may notice that all these are peaceful, creative qualities. No belligerence or hostility.

The more I learned about Jehovah and his qualities, the more I wanted to tell others about him. After all, all people on earth have the right to know who our Creator is, why he settled us on Earth and what the future awaits us. After all, only he knows the answers to all these questions. If God exists, it is simply necessary to tell others about him. Therefore, I believe that ignoring the existence of the Creator and keeping silent about him is a fatal mistake.

Just imagine if all people tried to imitate the qualities of God, what life would be like. Would it be necessary to issue so many laws and monitor their implementation if there is a Supreme Judge who sees even the impulses of the heart?

By the way, about the laws. To maintain order and justice, people throughout history had to issue a huge number of laws, and then make changes and amendments to them. But God's laws "do not kill", "do not violate marital fidelity", "do not steal", "do not give false testimony against your neighbor" and so on, all these laws are relevant to this day, they do not require adjustments.

Even take the story of Jehovah's Witnesses. In Soviet times, these were people outside the law. But then the collapse of the Soviet Union occurred, the laws changed, and Jehovah's Witnesses were rehabilitated. Now they are being persecuted again. What I'm getting at is that the laws issued by people change regularly, but the laws of God are unchangeable. For example, there is such a command: "Let us show attention to each other in order to encourage love and good deeds. We will not neglect our meetings, as has become a habit for some, but we will encourage each other. And seeing that this day is approaching, let us be even more diligent in all this" (Hebrews 10:24, 25). This is the law of God. How can I do it without getting together with others? It is simply impossible to be a believer alone. Jesus was always accompanied by his disciples. And after his death, they often got together.

I am sure that all these accusations of extremism against Jehovah's Witnesses are a monstrous mistake. My co-religionists and I have never harbored criminal thoughts, we have no goal to overthrow the government or resist it. On the contrary, the same unchangeable law of Jehovah obliges us to respect authority: "Every person must obey the highest authorities, because any authority is from God. The existing authorities occupy the places assigned to them by God. Therefore, anyone who opposes authority rebels against the order established by God, and such a person will incur condemnation" (Romans 13:1, 2).

I am well aware that thanks to the government, a certain order and level of security are maintained in the country, citizens are provided with the necessary services that my wife and I use. Why would I violate this order and commit a crime against the foundations of the constitutional order? As a Jehovah's Witness, I respect the "supreme authority" and observe the laws of the country. This is evidenced by the fact that I have never participated in court proceedings, I have never been prosecuted even for administrative violations, let alone criminal ones.

The following Bible quotes will help you understand my point of view even better: "My son, fear Jehovah and the king. Do not associate with rebels" (Proverbs 24:21). "Do not slander the king even in your thoughts" (Ecclesiastes 10:20).

As I said before, I try to follow all the commands of Jehovah. And he speaks through the Bible, even in his thoughts, not to slander the king, that is, the leader of the country, and not to communicate with the rebels. How can this be compatible with the charge I am being charged with?

Not a single Jehovah's Witness participated in any protests or rallies. None of the Witnesses committed acts of vandalism. For me, any protest is politics. And the Christian way is complete political neutrality. This is what Jesus taught, and he did it himself. And I try to imitate him in this.

I told him how I became a believer and what my religious views encourage me to do. These are my motives, what determines my actions.

My good deeds are well documented in the materials of the criminal case. During the surveillance of me, no illegal actions were recorded in relation to others. Even the indictment indicates that there are no victims in this case. But I do not agree with this statement. There are victims in this case — my wife and I. Words cannot describe the shame we felt when law enforcement officers in masks and with weapons burst into our house, as if it were the capture of some kind of gang. After that, it was a shame to even cross paths with neighbors in the entrance. I will never forget that day.

For six months I was restricted in my movements, as I was under house arrest. I couldn't even go out to the store next to the house. Now only my wife could leave the house, who has sore legs and generally very poor health after she worked all her life in harmful chemical production. And besides the store, you had to go to the post office, to the court, to a lawyer, and so on. We couldn't recover for a long time, both of us had aggravated chronic diseases. It is difficult to describe all the consequences of this criminal case.

House arrest is, of course, better than pre-trial detention, but for a person who has not committed any crime, who is trying to lead a peaceful life, this is unfair. And now the prosecutor demands imprisonment for six and a half years. It is unthinkable to put a law—abiding citizen, who tries to live according to the norms of God, among real criminals.

This accusation humiliates my dignity and puts on me, a peaceful person, the stigma of an extremist — a man insidious, cruel, planning violence. Your Honor, I really want justice to be restored and this baseless persecution to end.

Summary of the case

Region:

Novosibirsk region

Locality:

Novosibirsk

What is suspected:

According to the investigation, "he conducted collective worship services with followers of the creed based on the Holy Scriptures (the Bible) he led the reading and discussion religious literature"

Criminal case number:

12107500001000044

Case initiated:

July 21, 2021

Current stage of the case:

The verdict has entered into force

Investigating:

The Federal Security Service of Russia in the Novosibirsk region

Articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation:

282.2 (1)

Case number in court:

1-277/2022

Court of first instance:

Oktyabrsky District Court of Novosibirsk

Judge of the Court of first instance:

Evgeny Zakharov.