The last word of the defendant Yuri Temirbulatov in Moscow

 RUSSIA 

The last word of the defendant Yuri Temirbulatov in Moscow

August 3, 2022

Moscow

From the courtroom

Speaking before the court, Yuri Temirbulatov stated that extremism is categorically incompatible with his life values: "For me, as a believer, the commandments are obligatory: "Love your Lord God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your thoughts" and "Love your neighbor as yourself."

Transcript of the court session in the Golovinsky District Court of Moscow dated 08/03/2022 in the case 01-0122/2022 on charges of Temirbulatov Yuri Rafikovich and Serebryakov Alexander Georgievich of committing a crime under Part 1 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Temirbulatov Yuri Rafikovich:

The first thing I would like to start with, addressing the last word, is to express my gratitude.

Thank you, dear court, for listening attentively and patiently to the participants in the trial in order to understand the essence of this trial.

I express my gratitude to the secretary. It was not always easy to delve into theological reasoning. Thank you for your efforts in taking notes of the minutes of the meeting.

I want to thank the lawyers for their work, for the efforts they made defending Alexander and me.

I cannot but express my gratitude to the human rights defenders of Moskalkova Tatiana Nikolaevna, as well as the late Andrei Vladimirovich Babushkin, for his support, which they provided until his death.

Since I had to deal with cancer during my detention, I thank those who helped me in this fight: the medical staff of SIZO-1 (Matrosskaya Tishina) and SIZO-5 for diagnosis, for pre— and postoperative treatment, for continuing to help me in the fight against deterioration hypertension. I am grateful to those who organized the operation, as well as to the head of the department of urology at Oncological hospital No. 62, Valery Ivanovich Shirokorad, surgeon Stanislav Vladimirovich Kostritsky and all the medical staff who helped to carry out the operation to remove the tumor.

I really want to thank my beloved wife Alla — my faithful life partner — for bravely sharing my difficulties with me, as well as my children and friends who have supported us all this time.

I thank all those who supported us here, at the courtroom, at every meeting, and those who supported us from all over the world with their numerous letters and fervent prayers. I'm telling you all: thank you very much!

Before moving on to the next part of my last word, I would like to quote the writer Henry Van Dyke: "Born in the East and dressed in Oriental uniforms and images, the Bible travels around the world with ordinary steps and enters country after country to find its own everywhere. She has learned to speak to the human heart in hundreds of languages. Children listen to her stories with surprise and pleasure, and the sages reflect on them as parables of life. The crafty and proud are afraid of her warnings, but to the wounded heart and the penitent she speaks with the tongue of a mother… No one should consider themselves poor and lonely who have enriched themselves with this wealth."

One day, this book entered our house with my wife and completely changed our lives. This book helped me understand what the meaning of life is. The more I got to know this book, the more I became convinced of its uniqueness. While researching the Bible, I learned that it is the oldest and most widely used book: some of the 66 books that make up the Bible were written about 3,500 years ago, and 98% of the world's inhabitants can read it in their native language. And although the Bible is not a scientific work, I was surprised that it is consistent with reliable science when it comes to scientific issues.

For example, 3,500 years ago, the Bible stated with elegant simplicity that the Earth was hanging on nothing (the Book of Job, chapter 26, verse 7), thus anticipating the future scientific discovery that the Earth is held in space due to the mutual force of attraction between it and other celestial bodies. Or, for example, 2,700 years ago, the Bible said that the Earth is spherical (Book of Isaiah, chapter 40, verse 22). How could the people who wrote the Bible know this? This is a question that is not easy to answer for those who deny the inspiration of the Holy Scriptures. The accuracy of historical facts, fulfilled prophecies, internal consistency and frankness convinced me that the author of this book is the Almighty, Almighty God, the Creator of the Universe.

I began to trust the Bible even more when I saw how its teachings contributed to my physical and spiritual well-being. I reconsidered my attitude to my family, to my spouse, stopped swearing, abusing alcohol, and quit smoking. While raising our children, my wife and I passed on to them what we ourselves had been taught from the Bible: to love God, to show respect for others. My wife and I do not regret in the least that we gave our children such an upbringing that did not go unnoticed by the teachers of educational institutions, as evidenced by many certificates.

My beliefs have never been a problem for my employers. They might not share my religious views, but they always appreciated my decency and responsibility, which is also evidenced by the characteristics. I would like to note that the last positions I held before I began to develop my own business were directly related to working with staff and people. If I had at least some "smell" of extremism, who would entrust me with working with people?

For me, as a believer, the commandments are obligatory: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your thoughts" and "Love your neighbor as yourself" (The Gospel of Matthew, chapter 22, verses 37 to 39). Moreover, "neighbors" are not only family or friends, as some people think, but also all the people around us, regardless of race, nationality and religion. One day, the commandment "Love your neighbor as yourself" even prompted me to reconsider the field of activity in which I worked. I worked in the tobacco industry for about 8 years, servicing cigarette production equipment. I understood that if I wanted to become a Christian, a Jehovah's Witness, I needed to reconsider my field of activity. The well-known fact that tobacco smoking is the cause of many diseases, including those that lead to death, did not give my conscience any peace. On the one hand, I thought that I was not forcing anyone to smoke, but on the other hand, I understood that there was my participation in this process, which means, albeit partially, but I am also to blame for the fact that people smoke and harm their health. Therefore, it was the love of "neighbor" that prompted me, after much thought, to leave this highly paid job. After that, I became a Jehovah's Witness with a clear conscience. I still don't understand how people who strive to fulfill these commandments can be accused of extremism! […]

I once came across this saying: "The truth may walk around naked, but a lie always needs a robe." The "clothes" that are trying to cover up the "lie" are so out of size that they don't even come close to covering the body parts of the lie. I'm not talking about complete tastelessness. In the words of the state prosecution, the phrase "extremist actions" sounds. Why use this phrase if the investigation has no evidence that I committed extremist actions, and if I confirmed with my testimony that I did not commit any actions prohibited by art. 1 of the Federal Law "On Countering extremist activity"? […]

The investigation distorted the truth that formed the basis of the criminal case, using false arguments of the religious studies expertise of the so—called expert Ms. Aseeva Yu. Yu. During the examination, she used the method of oversimplification - this is when important aspects of the issue are not accepted. Often in advertising, famous people express opinions that are in no way related to their field of activity. A professional football player advertises refrigerators, and an Olympic gymnast offers breakfast products. Increasingly, actors advertise banking products. Ms. Aseeva may be a well-known person and a good expert in medical circles, but not in religious studies. And that's okay! A good doctor should be known as a good doctor. Ms. Aseeva Yu. Yu. does not have a basic education in the scientific discipline "religious studies", does not have work experience and, moreover, the necessary experience to conduct such examinations. When the expert answers the question: "What does the name of God sound like in the Synodal translation?", he answers: "The Synodal translation does not contain the name of God" — well, this does not fit into any framework at all! Even those who are just beginning to get acquainted with the name of God know that the name Jehovah appears 9 times in the Synodal translation (Genesis 22:14; Exodus 34:5; 17:15; 15:3; 33:19; 3:14; 6:3; Hosea 12:5; Judges 6:24). Therefore, it is not at all surprising that in addition to legal errors and violations of the rules of examination, Ms. Aseeva Yu. Yu. made mistakes in the field of religious studies. So it turns out like in the movie "Operation Y" and other adventures of Shurik": "Go, get out, train on cats." But we're not cats to train on. Everyone should do their own thing: a doctor should treat, a judge should judge, religious scholars should study religious studies. Who studied for whom!

And after all, the state prosecution in the person of the assistant prosecutor says that Ms. Elbakyan Ekaterina Sergeevna expressed her subjective, purely personal opinion about the teachings of Jehovah's Witnesses during the interrogation. Are you serious?! A subjective opinion?! She has been qualified as a specialist in religious studies since 1985. She graduated with honors from the Faculty of Philosophy of Lomonosov Moscow State University (Department of Philosophy of Religion and Religious Studies). On January 8, 1990, after completing full-time postgraduate studies at the Faculty of Philosophy of the Moscow State University. Lomonosov, she successfully defended her dissertation for the degree of Candidate of Philosophical Sciences [...] Currently Ekaterina Sergeevna is a doctor of Philosophy, [...] the author of 7 monographs and over 500 articles on religious studies, a number of speeches in the central media on religious issues, senior researcher... executive secretary of the editorial board of the journal "Religious Studiese", scientific supervisor and coordinator of the projects "Religious Studies. Encyclopedic Dictionary", "Religious Studies. Educational Dictionary" and "Encyclopedia of Religions", member of the editorial boards of a number of scientific publications on religious studies, member of the scientific expert council and scientific editor of the religious studies cycle of the New Russian Encyclopedia. The work experience of Ekaterina Sergeevna Elbakyan's specialist in the specialty "religious studies" is 37 years (since June 1985). How can an expert with 37 years of experience in the specialty "religious studies" express a subjective, purely personal opinion?!

An ancient parable says: "The naive believes every word, but the prudent ponders every step." I ask you, Your Honor, to check all the facts. It seems that the state prosecution is purposefully trying to mislead the court. The investigation and the state prosecution are trying to pass off the exercise of my right to freedom of religion, which is also expressed in the form of worship, as prohibited activities. Your Honor, you are not trying us now for murder, not for intentionally causing serious harm to health, not for theft, not for fraud, not for illegal drug possession. Here, Your Honor, are believers who decided one day, under no circumstances, not to change what is written in the Bible in a letter to the Jews (chapter 10, verses 23-25): "Let us steadfastly adhere to the unchangeable confession of what we hope for, because the One Who made the promise is faithful. Let's be attentive to each other, let's encourage each other to love and do good deeds. Let's not leave our meetings, because some people have this habit. Let's encourage each other better, and the closer the Day of the Lord gets."

Your Honor, would you agree that there is something in life that we cannot give up under any circumstances? How can you give up loving parents? How can we give up our children, whom we love and who love us? Or from our wives or husbands, who throughout our life together faithfully support us in both joy and sorrow? The answer is obvious: no way! How can one abandon God, who promised in the pages of his Word to erect a heavenly Kingdom (heavenly government)? Jesus taught us to pray for the coming of this Kingdom: "Thy kingdom come" (Matthew 6:10). With his help, a paradise will be established on earth, where there will be no all that darkens our lives now: crime, disease, wars, hunger and even death. And the fact that God did not spare his son Jesus Christ to achieve these goals is a clear confirmation that this will definitely come true.

After all, Your Honor, choosing this difficult work, this path in life, were driven not only by the desire to monetize your abilities, but also by a sense of justice and a desire to make this world a better place. I ask you, Your Honor, to drop the charges against me, drop the criminal case and acquit me completely. In accordance with the above, I consider myself innocent… You yourself are a witness to this unfair trial of a case in which there is no corpus delicti or victims. And you have every reason to join the earlier acquittal decisions in the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic, Kamchatka Territory, Sverdlovsk and Pskov regions, to acquit and restore my good name.

Summary of the case

Region:

Moscow

Locality:

Moscow

Criminal case number:

12102450011000009

Case initiated:

February 10, 2021

Current stage of the case:

The verdict has entered into force

Investigates:

The department for the investigation of particularly important cases of the SU in the Northern Administrative District of the Main Investigative Department of the IC for the city of Moscow

Articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation:

282.2 (1)

Case number in court:

01-0122/2022

Court:

Golovinsky District Court of Moscow

Judge:

Sergey Bazarov.