The last word of the defendant Vladimir Atryakhin in Saransk

 RUSSIA 

The last word of the defendant Vladimir Atryakhin in Saransk

August 15, 2022

Mordovia

From the courtroom

The defendant explained that the court had not established the corpus delicti despite the abundance of evidence collected, and the motive of religious hatred remained unproven. "I hope that every participant in the trial has already been able to convince himself of the absurdity of the charge against us," he concluded.

Transcript of the court session in the Leninsky District Court of Saransk dated 08/15/2022 in the case 1-13/2022 (1-216/2021) on charges of Vladimir Andreevich Atryakhin and others. of committing a crime under Part 1 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Vladimir Andreevich Atryakhin: A couple of days ago I watched my children playing. I have two boys, preschoolers. They were coming up with another game. And so the elder says to the younger: "Let me be a search, and you're a Christian." Both have known what a search is since early childhood, so they immediately started playing. The elder, as befits people who came to the search, began to harass the younger in various ways. The younger one tried to defend himself. But the elder did not lose his head and says: "You're a Christian! You don't have to return the favor!"

Looking at this situation from the outside, I suddenly realized how convenient a sacrifice we are as Jehovah's Witnesses. After all, it is easy to pursue someone who does not take revenge and will not even take up arms on pain of death.

However, we must not forget about one important thought. The biblical book of the prophet Zechariah records the words of God addressed to the people of Israel: "Whoever touches you touches the pupil of my eye" (Zechariah 2:8). Everyone understands how painful it is to touch the pupil of the eye. Such a vivid comparison is not accidental. God was very sensitive to the oppression of his servants in ancient times. And since God does not change over time, the baseless persecution of people loyal to him still does not leave him indifferent.

However, God temporarily allows such injustice to exist. The Bible describes the serious reasons why he allows this. Moreover, persecution for the faith was even predicted in the Bible. In the Gospel of Mark, the 13th chapter, the words of Jesus are recorded. There he tells the disciples about what will be a sign of the last days, talks about various events, and in verse 9 mentions the following: "You should be ready. You will be taken to the courts." And a little further on, in verse 13, he continues: "Everyone will hate you because of my name. But the one who stands to the end will be saved."

However, law enforcement officials have different attitudes towards the persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses for their faith.

For example, on May 17, 2022, a criminal case against three Jehovah's Witnesses was closed in the Arkhangelsk region. Their criminal case was terminated due to the lack of corpus delicti.

The decision to terminate the criminal case was made by the deputy head of the 2nd department for the investigation of particularly important cases of the SU IC of the Russian Federation for the Arkhangelsk Region and the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Colonel of Justice D. V. Vereshchagin. In making this decision, he was guided by the resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated June 28, 2011.

As in our case, in that case, a comprehensive psychological and linguistic religious studies examination of the video recordings of divine services did not establish signs of extremist manifestations. According to her, there were no "statements at the meetings containing signs of incitement to hatred or hostility based on attitude to religion, propaganda of the exclusivity and superiority of Jehovah's Witnesses." The main topics of communication were "reading and studying the Bible, religious norms, instructions and examples of behavior, and preaching ministry."

Thus, the investigation found that the three Jehovah's Witnesses, by organizing worship meetings, "were exercising their guaranteed constitutional right to freedom of religion." And the "significant amount of evidence" collected by the CPE staff confirmed only this fact.

Unfortunately, our investigation team and the state prosecutor went the other way – through persecution for faith. They were not deterred by the fact that their accusations contradicted the facts. They persevered in the tradition of Georg Hegel, who said: "If the facts contradict my theory, so much the worse for the facts."

This approach was evident throughout the entire process. So, the prosecution brought many boxes of "evidence" to the meeting, but did not even try to indicate what at least some of them proved. They also brought us a whole box of CDs with recordings of religious meetings and Bible studies. And again, the prosecution did not even try to choose any moments, show them to the court and prove something with them. The prosecution simply copied the names of all books and brochures, the numbers of all discs and wrote in the indictment that all this proves our guilt.

It was the same with the motives. The prosecution simply stated that the defendants had a motive of religious hatred. To put it bluntly, the indictment wrote that we allegedly promoted our exclusivity, did not recognize state power, and convinced others to refuse treatment and communication with relatives. And this is the only proof that we had a motive of religious hatred. But none of this is true!

It is very difficult to defend oneself when there are no substantive charges in the case, and the arguments allegedly proving the existence of a motive do not correspond to reality. We, the accused, had to review and re-read the physical evidence ourselves and look for episodes and excerpts in them that expose the inconsistency of the indictment and the lies of prosecution witnesses. I hope that every participant in the trial has already been able to convince himself of the absurdity of the accusation against us and its baselessness.

In order to finally put an end to this issue, I will give one illustrative example. Please imagine a person who works for a certain commercial football organization. She makes football popular, holds some competitions, helps to build football fields. In his spare time, this man likes to play football himself. For many years now, he has been gathering neighbors once a week and playing football with them. It is important that he started playing football with his neighbors long before he joined this football organization and even long before it was created.

At some point, the court bans the activities of this football organization. We will not go into the details of how this happened. In any case, our hero has to look for another job. At the same time, he still gathers neighbors once a week and plays football with them, because he still loves this game.

But suddenly he is being persecuted for allegedly continuing the activities of a banned organization. For a whole year, CPE employees filmed on a hidden camera how he called people to play football, rented a field, brought a ball and played. The investigator is sure that the case is correct. The game is called football. Such a word was also in the name of the banned organization.

"Wait! — our hero objects. — But I also played football in the same way before the creation of this legal entity. Yes, it was convenient for us when this organization rented a field for us, sometimes gave us balls and organized tournaments. This is not the case now. Now, like many years ago, I rent the field myself, call the neighbors and play football. This game is not forbidden!" I'm sure you already know what question the state prosecutor asks him in response. He asks, "Did someone prevent you from playing football in person at home in the kitchen?" Our hero lowers his eyes and quietly replies: "No. No one interfered."

This example, although fictitious, very clearly illustrates the absurdity of the accusation against us and the insignificance of its justification. We have said many times that the activities of religious groups, or communities, of Jehovah's Witnesses do not depend and have never depended on the activities of a prohibited legal entity. Now we have also shown by example what this means. This example also highlights the absurdity of the question of personal worship of God in the kitchen.

An uninitiated person may think that this is not a good example. Everyone knows that football is a team game. Is it possible to play football in person in the kitchen? May. In table football, or on the console. But this is not football. It's an imitation.

Can the same be said about worshipping God? Of course, yes! Christians of all faiths have a Bible at their disposal. One of the books of the New Testament is called the Acts of the Apostles. This book tells in detail about how the early followers of Jesus Christ served God. There are also 21 books in the New Testament, each of which is a letter from one or another servant of God (mainly the apostles) to Christian congregations of the first century, or to individual ministers of that time. The last of them dates back to the very end of the 1st century AD. It turns out that the first 70 years of Christianity are documented in great detail in the most reliable source of information — the Bible. This is what this book says about the worship of God in the 1st century AD.

The Book of Acts of the Apostles, 2nd chapter, 42nd verse: "They constantly studied with the apostles and communicated with each other, ate and prayed together"

The Apostle Paul begins his First Letter to the Corinthians with the words: "Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes to the congregation of God in Corinth."

He begins the letter to the Galatians with the words: "Paul, who was appointed an apostle not by men, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him up, and all the brothers who are with me, to the assemblies of Galatia."

He begins the second letter to the Thessalonians with the words: "Paul, Silvanus and Timothy to the assembly in Thessalonica."

Note that all these letters are addressed not to individual Christians, but to congregations.

And here is what the Apostle Paul wrote in his letter to Christians from Jerusalem: "Let us not neglect our meetings, as has become a habit for some, but let us encourage one another" (Hebrews 10:25)

In his letter to the congregation in the city of Kolossy, the Apostle Paul wrote: "May the word of Christ live in you and give you wisdom. Teach and support each other with psalms, songs of praise to God and spiritual songs, singing them with gratitude. Sing to Jehovah with all your heart" (Colossians 3:16).

These passages, like many others, clearly indicate that in the first century, the followers of Jesus Christ did not serve God personally, at home in the kitchen, but did it in meetings. They regularly attended the meetings of these meetings, studied at them, sang songs of praise to God together, and preached together.

It turns out that the worship of God in Christianity, including among Jehovah's Witnesses, is a collective process. It includes attending general meetings with co-religionists, studying the Word of God, singing songs, and spreading faith together. Of course, Christians of all faiths also turn to God in personal prayers, but in general, the worship of God in Christianity cannot be limited to the space of a personal kitchen.

Returning to the example of the football player, I note that the proposal to worship God alone in your kitchen from the point of view of the Bible and Christianity is no less absurd than the proposal to play football at home in the kitchen. In fact, the prosecution urged us to replace the worship of God with only his imitation. But would any of the believers agree to this?

Summary of the case

Region:

Mordovia

Locality:

Saransk

What is suspected of:

He was engaged in "spreading ideology and faith among the residents of the Republic of Mordovia by conducting conversations in public places and residential premises with residents of Saransk and other settlements," which is interpreted as "organizing the activities of an extremist organization"

Criminal case number:

11907890001000003

Case initiated:

February 4, 2019

Current stage of the case:

The verdict has entered into force

Investigating:

The Federal Security Service of Russia for the Republic of Mordovia

Articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation:

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

The number of the case in court:

1-13/2022 (1-216/2021)

Court:

Leninsky District Court of Saransk

Judge of the Court of first instance:

Elena Simonova