The last word of the defendant Alexey Dyadkin in Gukovo

 RUSSIA 

The last word of the defendant Alexey Dyadkin in Gukovo

September 12, 2022

Rostov region

From the courtroom

In his address to the court, Alexey spoke about the absurdity of criminal prosecution for peaceful religious activities without victims: "Bible study, prayers and religious songs… After 2017, it all became a criminal activity. To whom you tell this, everyone is perplexed and asks again."

Transcript of the court session in the Gukovsky City Court of the Rostov region dated 09/12/2022 in the case 1-710/2021 on the charges of Alexey V. Dyadkin and others. of committing a crime under Part 1 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Alexey V. Dyadkin: Dear court! Let me begin by thanking you, Natalia Vasilyevna, for trying to get to the bottom of the matter. For 10 months, you patiently listened to the defense and prosecution witnesses, the prosecutor, me and my friends. Thank you for that. I think this is the first such trial in your practice, firstly, because they are being tried for believing in God, and secondly, long sentences have been requested, but there are no victims. There is no specific person, no company, and even the state has not been affected in any way. And, actually, there was no crime as such either. And in fact, the victims are ourselves and our families, wives and children left without husbands and fathers.

I want to thank Secretary Lidia Anatolyevna. You tried to carefully keep records of court sessions, during which many religious terms and expressions were used. Thanks to your understanding and participation, during the period of covid restrictions, before and after the trial, I could see my wife, even for a minute. You were also able to arrange for the presence of every single witness involved in the case. Your punctuality and organization are commendable.

I want to thank Prosecutor Victoria Grigorievna for her warm attitude towards me and my friends. I see that you have no prejudice or anger towards me personally or towards the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses in general. Thank you for that. You just do your job carefully and you can't do it any other way. I thought we were similar. You, like me, have been deprived of your freedom. I was deprived of freedom of conscience and religion, and you were deprived of freedom of choice, determining whether a person is guilty or not. Otherwise, seeing and hearing the evidence of our guilt, you would ask the court to find us innocent.

Many thanks to our lawyers. Especially to you, Mikhail Viktorovich. Your work deserves the most sincere praise and appreciation. You are a professional in your field. Each time you traveled 400 km in one direction only to get to this process. Your sincerity and warm attitude towards me have supported me all this time.

And I also want to thank the convoy for the respectful attitude towards us, as well as for the timely delivery to the court.

More than others, I am grateful to my beloved wife, Vitalina. We have been married to you for 11 years now, and my heart is forever given to you. I always thank Jehovah God for having you. All our life together, you have been my helper, a source of positivity, support and care. And throughout this trial period, you were by my side, helping me with all your might. Although it was very difficult at times, you did not give up, you did not give up, but on the contrary, you became better, you became stronger! You are a real encouragement to me and our friends. Thank you very much! I love you, I'm proud of you, I miss you.

Thanks a lot to my mom. I love you very much too and I am grateful for your love, help, warmth and everything you have done for my family. Mom, don't be ashamed of me, because I'm not a thief, a murderer, a drug addict or some other criminal. You've given me a wonderful upbringing. I am being judged for my faith in Jehovah God and my desire to act in a way pleasing to him. It's not a shame. At a time when I should be supporting you and taking care of you, you yourself have to help and take care of me. I love you, Mom.

Thanks to all my friends, and I have a lot of them, and they all showed attention to my family in various ways, which was simply invaluable for me. For example, through parcels and letters. During my 2 years in jail, I received more than 7,000 letters from all over the world, which contained warm words of support, photos, pictures, and children's drawings. Thanks to these letters, I felt that I was not abandoned, not abandoned. I felt even more strongly our Christian strong bonds of love. Often my cellmates were amazed at such attention to me, and the prison staff wished us a speedy release, as our letters multiplied their work.

And one day, friends sent a lot of bouquets and gifts to my wife for our 10th wedding anniversary. It was unforgettable. Your care and support mean a lot to me. Thank you very much.

Thanks to those friends who always come to the meetings, although you are not even allowed into the courthouse, but you met us and applauded us all the time in the cold and in the heat. It really, really gives strength and strengthens!

But most of all, I want to say thank you to my God Jehovah, whom I worship. For believing in which, in fact, I am being judged. If it wasn't for His strong support, I wouldn't have survived this period of my life. I thank Him for the strength he gives me and other guys, for peace of mind, for a positive attitude, for hope and perseverance. He is the source of my strength and joy. He honored me with the honor of participating in this trial as his Witness!

Jesus Christ once spoke about this honor in a conversation with his apostles. His words are recorded in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 21, verses 12 and 13. These lines are almost 2000 years old, but they are being performed right now. I quote: "... people will seize and persecute you, putting you in synagogues and prisons, and will bring you to kings and rulers because of my name. This will give you the opportunity to testify."

History knows many examples of persecution of Christians. It all started in the first century, when they were accused of terrible crimes against the state, then it continued during the Inquisition and, of course, during the Soviet Union, where they were accused of "anti-Soviet activities." In 1951, thousands of families of Jehovah's Witnesses from the western regions of the USSR were deported to Siberia and the Far East. The lives of these families have changed dramatically.

And now, before your eyes, history repeats itself. Only the term "anti-Soviet activity" was replaced by "extremist activity". Behind these menacing words, which sound to many like "terrorism," there are joint peaceful worship services: Bible study, prayers and religious songs. After 2017, it all became a criminal activity. To whom do you tell about this, everyone is perplexed and asks again: is it really possible to go to prison in our time for believing in God? Unfortunately, yes.

But I will return to the words of Jesus, who said that "... this will give an opportunity to testify." The word "witness" has a legal connotation that Your Honor is well aware of. To be a witness is to give evidence, to confirm some facts. Such an unusual, at first glance, name was given to his servants by God himself.

In the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, the Bible says: "You are my witnesses, says Jehovah, my servant whom I have chosen." The theological dictionary gives one of the meanings of the word "witness": "one who testifies to certain truths, that is, openly speaks about his beliefs."

It turns out that the position of Christians, including mine, is based on the belief that even in court you need to continue to testify. And about what? About the true God and his promises. Take, for example, the well-known prayer "Our Father". It begins with the words: "Our Father, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."

Have you noticed that the prayer says that God has a name that also needs to be sanctified? What name are we talking about? Someone says that his name is Jesus, but this is not true, because these words are uttered by Jesus himself, addressing his Father. It's just about the personal name of God — Jehovah. And the next time you say this prayer, you will now remember this name.

And what is your kingdom? Or the Kingdom of God? Is it heavenly bliss or just a state of the heart? You will be surprised, but the Kingdom of God is a government in heaven that will rule over the Earth. What changes will it bring to people? Justice for all, as well as peace among people and harmony with nature. But that's not all. At that time, people will have excellent health and a satisfying life. To some it seems like a fairy tale, but to me these are words that give hope.

The Government of the Russian Federation has repeatedly stated that the decision of the Russian courts to liquidate and ban organizations of Jehovah's Witnesses does not assess the beliefs of Jehovah's Witnesses, does not contain restrictions or a ban on practicing the above-mentioned doctrine individually. Many government and public figures have also drawn attention to this problem. Thus, the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation, Tatyana Nikolaevna Moskalkova, mentioning the growing number of criminal cases against believers, stated in her report to the President of the Russian Federation: "These events make us think about the existence of a conflict between the constitutional right to profess one's religion individually or jointly with others and signs of extremist activity in Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation." And take the recent decision of the ECHR, published on June 7, 2022. From 2010 to 2019, the ECHR received more than 20 collective appeals. A total of 1,014 people submitted them. The court combined them into one complaint, "The local religious organization Taganrog and others."

The ECHR ruling repeatedly states that the preference for one's own religion, the perception of it as unique and the only truth, is the cornerstone of almost any religious system. "What is important is the absence of expressions aimed at inciting or justifying violence or hatred based on religious intolerance." The ECHR recalled that Jehovah's Witnesses profess the doctrine of nonviolence. "Religious people may be genuinely offended by statements about the superiority of another's religion over their own," says the ECHR. "While such sentiments are understandable, they cannot in themselves restrict freedom of expression, let alone hinder the exercise of religious freedom by others."

According to the ECHR judges, "the definitions of extremism and extremist activity formulated and applied in practice by the Russian authorities do not meet the requirements of legality, since they allow any behavior to be classified as extremist, even if it is devoid of hatred or enmity." The ECHR has highlighted a "fundamental procedural flaw" in Russian legal proceedings: "The courts simply approved the conclusions drawn up by experts selected by the prosecutor's office and the police, and made no attempt to conduct their own legal analysis."

If such an analysis had been carried out, the judges would have seen that Jehovah's Witnesses live by the advice from the Letter to the Romans: "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). Agree, this is an ideal civic position — the dream of any government!

Before my arrest, I also tried to live by this advice and be a law-abiding citizen. That's what I'm trying to be now. After two years of arrest and separation from my family, I did not get angry at the employees of the FSB, the investigative committee, the prosecutor's office and others. I try to look at everything through the eyes of God and love people, even those who unfairly persecute me. My conscience is clear — I have not committed any crime. I don't even have anyone to repent to and ask for forgiveness from, since I already said at the beginning that there are no victims in the case. I really hope that the court will issue an acquittal. But whatever your decision, I am determined to continue to remain faithful to my beliefs and worship my God Jehovah. I can't go against the voice of conscience.

I want to end my speech with the words of one famous Christian figure, Martin Luther. He uttered them 500 years ago at a church court in response to an offer to renounce his beliefs. He said: "I am captivated in my conscience by the word of God, and therefore I do not intend to renounce, because it is painful and unprofitable to act against my conscience." Or, to put it more briefly, "I stand on that and I can't do otherwise."

Summary of the case

Region:

Rostov region

Locality:

Gukovo

What is suspected:

According to the investigation, "they called meetings of co-religionists, prayed and sang songs to the God Jehovah"

Criminal case number:

12002600001000874

Case initiated:

August 7, 2020

Current stage of the case:

The verdict has entered into force

Investigates:

From the Department of Internal Affairs of the SU IC of Russia in the Rostov region

Articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation:

282.2 (1)

Case number in court:

1-20/2022 (1-710/2021)

Court:

Gukovsky City Court of the Rostov region

Judge:

Natalia Batura.