The Final Statement
«This is absurd.»
On the first day of this trial, Russia and the world were shaken by the horrific news of Alexey Navalny’s death. I too have been shaken by it. I even thought about foregoing a closing statement altogether: what is the point of making statements today when we are still under the spell of the shock caused by this news?
But then this thought came to me: the death, or, more precisely, the murder of Alexey; the judicial crackdown on other critics of the regime, including myself; the suffocation of freedom in the country; Russian troops’ invasion in Ukraine – all are links in one chain. So, I decided to deliver my statement, after all.
I have committed no crime. I am being tried for a newspaper article in which I called the political regime ensconced in Russia totalitarian and fascist. I wrote this article more than a year ago. And back then, some of my acquaintances felt that I had painted too dark of a picture.
But by now it is obvious that I by no means overstated my case in that article. In our country, government is yet again in control not just of our civic, political, and economic life. It also aspires to a total control over culture and science; it also invades our private lives. It is becoming all-pervasive.
My first trial, in this very same court, concluded slightly over four months ago. Since then, multiple events have demonstrated the speed with which our country has been sinking ever more deeply into this darkness.
Let me list several disparate events that are dissimilar in the scale of their impact and tragic nature:
— Books written by several contemporary Russian authors have been banned in Russia;
— A nonexistent “LGBT movement” has been banned; in practice, this implies a brazen interference by the government in the private lives of its citizens;
— Applicants to the Higher School of Economics have been prohibited from citing ‘foreign agents.’ Now, applicants and students have to study and memorize the lists of ‘foreign agents’ prior to studying the subject matter;
— Boris Kagarlitsky, a widely known scholar in sociology and a left-wing commentator, has been sentenced to five years in jail for a few words about developments in the war in Ukraine that differed from the official narrative;
— The individual whom propaganda hacks are calling ‘the national leader’ stated in public the following when speaking about the start of World War II: “After all, it was the Poles that compelled Hitler, by overplaying their hand, to start World War II. Why did the war start from Poland? Because it turned out to be uncooperative. So Hitler was left with no other option but to start with Poland when implementing his plans.”
How should we define a political system where all that I’ve mentioned above is taking place? It seems to me, there can be no doubt about the answer. Alas, I was right in my article.
It’s not just public criticism of the authorities, but any independent opinion that has been banned. Punishment can be meted out even for actions that may seem completely unrelated to politics or criticism of the authorities. There is no field of art for free artistic statements; there is no academic freedom in the humanities; nored is there private life any longer.
I will now say a few words about the nature of the charges leveled against me and, in many similar trials, against those who, like me, have spoken against the war.
At the opening of the current trial, I refused to participate; thanks to this refusal, I had the opportunity to re-read during court proceedings ‘The Trial’, a novel by Franz Kafka. Indeed, our current situation is similar to the one faced by Kafka’s main character: they are in the preposterous and arbitrary actions dressed up as formal adherence to some pseudo-legal procedures.
We are being charged with disparaging the army, yet no one explains what this means, and how it is different from legitimate criticism. We are being charged with spreading a priori false information, yet no one is bothering to prove that this information is false. Soviet authorities acted exactly the same, declaring any criticism to be false.Meanwhile, our attempts to prove the veracity of this information are becoming criminally punishable. We are being charged with not supporting the belief system and worldview declared as correct by the authorities, yet Russia is not supposed to have a state ideology. We are dealt guilty verdicts convicted for doubtings that an assault on a neighboring state is aimed at maintaining international peace and security.
This is absurd.
Kafka’s main character has no idea of the charges against him to the end of the novel; yet the court finds him guilty, and he is executed. Meanwhile, in Russia, charges against us are formally announced – yet they are incomprehensible if one stays within the framework of law and logic.
Granted, unlike Kafka’s character, we understand the real reason why we are getting detained, arrested, tried, sentenced, and killed. As a matter of fact, we are being punished for daring to criticize the authorities.
In present-day Russia, this is absolutely forbidden.
Legislators, investigators, prosecutors, and judges do not openly acknowledge this. They hide it behind preposterous and illogical verbiage of new so-called laws, indictments, and verdicts. But that’s what it is.
At this time, Alexey Gorinov, Alexandra Skochilenko, Igor Baryshnikov, Vladimir Kara-Murza, and many others are being slowly murdered in penal colonies and prisons. They are being murdered for having protested the bloodshed in Ukraine; for wanting Russia to become a democratic, prosperous state that would not pose a threat to the world around it.
In recent days, the authorities have been snatching, penalizing, and even jailing people merely for showing up at the memorials for victims of political persecution in order to honor the memory of the murdered Alexey Navalny. He was a remarkable individual, courageous and honest, who never lost his optimism and faith in the future of our country, not even in the unbelievably harsh conditions that were deliberately set up for him. Of course, this was murder, regardless of the particulars of his death.
Even after his death, the authorities keep waging war on Navalny, by demolishing the pop-up memorials being created for him. The regime fears even a dead Navalny – and with good reason.
Those doing this hope to demoralize part of Russian society that feels responsibility for their country.
These hopes are in vain.
We remember Alexey’s appeal “Do not give up!”. To this I will add: do not become discouraged, do not lose your optimism. Because truth is on our side.
Those who have brought our country to the pit where it is currently prostrated represent the old, the tottering, the outdated. They have no vision for the future – only false images of the past, fantasies of ‘imperial greatness.’ They are pushing Russia backward, into the dystopia that was described by Vladimir Sorokin in his ‘Day of the Oprichnik.’ As to us, we live in the 21st century; the present and the future are on our side; and this is what will ensure our victory.
In conclusion, I’d like to address those whose current work moves forward the steamroller of political persecution. In doing so, I will probably surprise many people. I am addressing government officials, law enforcement officers, judges, and prosecutors:
In reality, you clearly understand what is going on. And far from all of you are committed to the idea that political persecutions are necessary. At times you regret what you have to be doing, but you tell yourself: “What can I do? I’m just following orders. The law is the law.”
I am addressing you, Your Honor, and the representative of the prosecution. Are you not afraid?? I would think that you also love our country; aren’t you afraid when watching its current transformation? Aren’t you afraid that not only you and your children but, God forbid, your grandchildren as well may have to live in absurdity, this dystopia?
Sooner or later, the steamroller of reprisals may roll over those who launched it and those who was pushing it forward. This happened over and over again in the course of history. Doesn’t this obvious thought visit you once in a while?
Let me repeat what I said at the previous trial:
The law is the law, indeed. But I recall that in 1935, the so-called Nuremberg Laws were enacted in Germany. And later, after the victory in 1945, those who enforced them were put on trial.
I am not entirely certain as to whether the present-day drafters and enforcers of Russia’s anti-legal, anti-constitutional laws will be held accountable in person. But punishment is inevitable: Their children or grandchildren will be embarrassed to tell others where their fathers, mothers, grandfathers, and grandmothers served and what they did. The same will happen to those who are currently committing crimes in Ukraine by carrying out their superiors’ orders. In my mind, this is the most horrific punishment. And it will come inevitably.
Punishment is clearly inevitable for me as well, because in today’s circumstances, an acquittal on this kind of charges is not possible.
We will now see what the sentence will be.
But I have nothing to regret or repent for.
Golovinsky District Court, Moscow, Russia
February 26, 2024
Source: https://memopzk.org/news/pravozashhitnik-oleg-orlov-vystupil-v-sude-s-poslednim-slovom/
More about the case: https://memopzk.org/figurant/orlov-oleg-petrovich/
Photo: Sergei Karpukhin / TASS
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