The last word of the defendant Vladimir Korobeynikov in Kirov

RUSSIA 

The last word of the defendant Vladimir Korobeynikov in Kirov

May 23, 2022

Kirov region

From the courtroom

Assuring the court of respect for the state and its laws, referring to the example of the first Christians and proving the baselessness of the accusations against him, the believer said: "We were deliberately dirtied in the mud, and now we have to prove that we are not villains."

Transcript of the court session in Pervomaisky district court of Kirov dated 05/23/2022 in the case 1-2/2022 (1-5/2021; 1-123/2020) on the charges of Korobeynikov Vladimir Alexandrovich and others. of committing a crime under Part 1 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and Part 1 of Article 282.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Korobeynikov Vladimir Alexandrovich:

Thank you, Your Honor, that the trial was smooth. There was no fuss and haste. Because you were attentive to us, being observant and understanding what difficult times we are living in now (I mean the situation with the coronavirus), you postponed meetings so that there was no danger of infection of other participants in the process. I am also grateful to you for taking into account the peculiarities of my illness, providing small breaks even when I was embarrassed to say so.

I am also grateful to the lawyers who tried to understand our position, represent it in court and defend us. Thank you that all the participants in the process tried to pronounce the name of God correctly. I understand that an unfamiliar name is difficult to remember, which is why it is difficult to pronounce with the right emphasis, but you tried anyway. Perhaps someone will disagree with the fact that God's name is Jehovah, but this name exists. Why are we sure about this? In his message to us, the people, through the Bible, he calls himself that: "The Lord is a man of war, Jehovah is his name" (the book of the Bible Exodus, chapter 15, verse 3). Or, for example, another: "And the Lord is the God of hosts; Who is (Jehovah) is His name." The mention of his name is directly related to our salvation during God's restoration of order on earth (this applies to all people): "For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved" (Letter to Romans, chapter 10, verse 13).

Of course, for some people, some words from the Bible are not quite clear and familiar. And the Synodal translation (the most common, although there are other translations, for example, the Modern Translation, the translation of Archimandrite Macarius, etc.), was released a long time ago. Therefore, a translation of the New World was published, where the text is most understandable to modern people. But, unfortunately, it was included in the list of extremist literature, despite the fact that the Bible, the Koran, the Tanakh and Ganjur, their contents and quotations from them cannot be recognized as extremist materials. The professionalism of the experts who made such a conclusion is questioned. But I am more inclined to think that they were motivated by bias towards the Jehovah's Witnesses who published this translation.

It was the recognition of the literature of Jehovah's Witnesses as extremist that became the only reason that formed the basis for all subsequent court decisions banning their legal entities. This, in turn, freed the hands of the security forces and allowed them to prosecute peaceful believers. Although all this literature included in the list of extremist literature does not actually contain a hint of extremism. First, they "imprisoned" magazines, books that never contained anything that would incite extremism, and then the Bible.

From the very beginning, I have said and continue to say that I am a Jehovah's Witness! There are about 9 million of us in different countries and territories. This is a device of God himself, and it does not need any human registration. Faith and worship of God cannot be registered. Only God, figuratively speaking, can "register" the strength of beliefs and the sincerity of faith! It's no secret that the conditions in which we live today are getting worse and worse every day (this is stated in the Bible, and in detail). I have been researching this wise book for quite some time. It even says what conditions Jehovah has in mind for people who obey him. Unfortunately, most people don't even want to hear about the Bible. They often say that they don't have time for this. How strange — people don't have time for someone who, in principle, gave them this time.

As you know, you cannot force a person to love, just as you cannot force them to stop loving. And I am being forced to renounce the God of Jehovah. But we do not have North Korea, where all religion is prohibited, where the head of government himself equated himself with a deity. We have a state governed by the rule of law. The authorities of the Russian Federation emphasize that the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated 04/20/2017 and the appeal ruling of the Appellate Board of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated 07/17/2017. They do not assess the doctrine of Jehovah's Witnesses, do not contain restrictions or prohibitions on professing the above-mentioned doctrine individually.

I'll give you an example from history. In the Soviet Union, since 1925, the Orthodox Church has suffered severe persecution. Many churches were destroyed or used for non-religious purposes. Although people could no longer gather in church, did this mean that they stopped believing, celebrating holidays, using church paraphernalia and talking about God? No, and as we know, they did a lot of things stealthily. Can we say that they are extremists and continued the activities of the church? No, they did only what their conscience and faith prompted them to do.

All the time, while the investigation and trial were going on, I was trying to understand what I was being tried for and accused of, not from a formal point of view, but essentially, in truth. Formally, I understand that I am being tried under Article 282 part 1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation for extremism. While reading this article, I tried to figure out which of these things applies to me, but I still didn't understand. As it has been said many times at court hearings, I resigned from the membership of the MRO [Local religious Organization] long before its liquidation, and the prosecution persistently attributes me to the MRO.

My beliefs are exclusively peaceful, so there are no victims or victims in this case either. Humiliation of human dignity, undermining the foundations of the constitutional order, and incitement to religious or racial discord are unacceptable to me. And the prosecution has not provided a single piece of evidence to the contrary during the entire trial!

Even before I met the God Jehovah, I was convinced that in order not to go to prison, you need to follow all the laws of the state and not violate them. Now, living by the same principle, I see that it is possible (and quite easy) to end up behind bars just because you are a "dissident" and do not fit into the "gray mass", which is easy to manage. Stalin, paraphrasing Maxim Gorky, said: "If there were a man, there would be an article." And in our case, there were people who did everything possible to replace white with black and turn law-abiding people into extremists. And they did it professionally. We were deliberately dirtied, and now we have to prove that we are not villains. After all, it's obvious — they attributed to us all the sins of the earth in the desire to put us behind bars, and for a long time!

What do Jehovah's Witnesses do and why do they do it? Here are some quotes from the Bible. All quotations are taken from the Synodal Translation:

-The epistle of the Apostle Paul to Hebrews 10:25: "Let us not leave our assembly, as is the custom of some; but let us exhort one another, and the more so, the more you see the approach of that day." Since the author of the Bible is Jehovah, he made sure that these words were also written down for us, his modern servants.

-Acts of the Holy Apostles 2:42: "And they were constantly in the teaching of the Apostles, in communion and the breaking of bread and in prayer." As you can see, prayers are also necessary: both personal and collective. Please note: Christians have been organized into congregations and met for encouragement since biblical times. There were elders in these meetings, spiritually mature men who took care of their co-religionists.

-The gospel of Matthew 28:19, 20 (the words of the risen Jesus Christ addressed to his followers): "Go therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you all the days until the end of the century." In this way, he encouraged his disciples (modern ones too) to go from house to house, i.e. to preach, which we do in good faith. Not all churches comply with this requirement. And we consider this an important matter.

To sum up: the first Christians regularly gathered together, studied the Holy Scriptures, prayed, preached or taught others. For thousands of years, Christians have steadily followed these tenets. If we take the commands written in the Bible seriously, do we become extremists because of this? No, of course not! We follow the tradition of the first Christians. Therefore, it is unclear to me what we are being tried for from a legal point of view.

The history of the first Christians helps to understand the causes of persecution. Over the past two millennia, the followers of Jesus Christ have been treated differently. There were times of peace and tranquility, but there were also times of severe persecution.

Here are some examples. King Herod cut off John the Baptist's head. The Lord Jesus Christ himself was falsely accused by religious leaders of rebellion against the Roman government and executed. The Supreme Jewish Court, extremely dissatisfied with the fact that Jesus' disciples, the apostles, continued to preach after his death, whipped them. Later, Tsar Herod imprisoned the Apostle Peter. The Roman authorities sent the Apostle Paul to prison several times. This was due to the false accusations of Jewish religious leaders. This is what they said about the Apostle Paul: "Having found this man the plague of society, the instigator of rebellion between Jews living in the universe and the representative of the Nazarene heresy" (Acts 24:5). Apparently, they accused him of sedition and heresy. How similar it is to what is happening to us today! The Apostle John was sent into exile on the island of Patmos. Why was he exiled? He himself explained in the biblical book of Revelation (chapter 1, verse 9): "For the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ."

For me it's not just Bible stories, for me it's a living story!

So why were Christians persecuted in the first century AD? First, the message they carried about the Kingdom of God, Paradise on earth, and Jesus Christ as the son of God was unpopular. Secondly, they adhered to strict neutrality, did not interfere in politics, did not serve in the army and exposed religious lies. If all these God-fearing people lived in our day, would they also be tried for extremism? What do you think?

Let's turn closer to our time: during the time of Nazi Germany, Jehovah's Witnesses were brutally persecuted. In 1934, Hitler vowed to exterminate Jehovah's Witnesses. And these were not empty threats. Mass arrests and imprisonment followed. Approximately 6,000 Witnesses were sent to the camps, and more than 1,600 of our co-religionists from Germany and other countries died at the hands of the persecutors.

One of them was 19-year-old Austrian Gerhard Steinaker. Just a few days after the outbreak of World War II, the Nazis arrested him for refusing to serve in the German army. In November 1939, Gerhard was sentenced to death. That month, while in prison, he wrote: "All I want is to glorify God, keep his commandments, and ask him to accept us into his kingdom, where eternal life and peace await us." On March 29, 1940, in a farewell letter to his parents, Gerhard wrote: "I'm just a kid. I will be able to stand up only if the Lord gives me strength, and I ask him for that." The next day, at about six o'clock in the morning, Gerhard was executed. Most likely, he was beheaded. The inscription on his grave reads: "He died glorifying God."

Fortunately, Hitler is not here today. Today there are more than 164,000 Jehovah's Witnesses in Germany, and they are flourishing spiritually. Why were they being chased? It's simple — they refused to say "Heil Hitler!" and did not join the army. They did not want to kill their brothers in the faith, as Jehovah's Witnesses live in all countries. They were not allowed to do this by their Bible-trained conscience.

So, why Christians were persecuted in the first centuries [of our era] is understandable. Why they were persecuted in Nazi Germany is also clear. Why are they being tried and persecuted now? No one talks about it directly, but I would like to hear it. But this is definitely not for extremism! Extremism is a formal accusation. If Jehovah's Witnesses were extremists, who would have given them permission to officially preach, build branches, printing houses and lecture halls over the past 100 years in 240 countries and territories? The answer is obvious — no one!

Most likely, the real reasons for the persecution will be told or written about someday. It's always been like this. This will become history. However, I am sure that God still knows the true reasons for this persecution. Jesus said, "For there is nothing secret that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be made known and revealed" (Luke 8:17).

Your Honor, I have great respect for the state, the government, and the laws. I love people and wish them only the best, I love my family very much and, as Jehovah expects of me, I take care of her not only financially, but also spiritually. The Constitution is the basic law of our country, and I am grateful for article 28, which gives me the right to practice my religion. I exercise this right without violating any laws.

At the end of this address, I want to assure you of the sincerity of my beliefs and motives. I just want to serve God the way it is written in the Bible, not the way some uncle will tell me to. I don't want to compromise the principles of the Bible. I will not betray the God I love. I am ready for any court decision, because I am convinced that I have not done anything illegal either on the part of God's demands or on the part of the state. I am not afraid of punishment if it does happen, because I understand that Jehovah approves of me as his servant. I'm just asking for an acquittal. And I'm ready for God's judgment, too.

Summary of the case

Region:

Kirov region

Locality:

Kirov

What is suspected of:

According to the investigation, "meetings of followers and participants of the said association [Jehovah's Witnesses] were organized in various apartments in compliance with the actions characteristic of this association, expressed in joint singing of biblical songs, improving skills in carrying out missionary activities, studying religious literature, the so-called "Holy Scripture" (Bible), which is included in the Federal List of extremist materials containing the doctrine of Jehovah's Witnesses."

Criminal case number:

11802330022000044

Case initiated:

October 3, 2018

The current stage of the case:

The verdict has entered into force

Investigates:

SU IC of the Russian Federation in the Kirov region

Articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation:

282.2 (1), 282.3 (1), 282.2 (2)

The number of the case in court:

1-2/2022 (1-5/2021; 1-123/2020)

Court of first instance:

Pervomaisky District Court of Kirov

Judge of the Court of first instance:

Timur Yusupov