'I saw bags over people’s heads, wires attached to different parts of their bodies, broken ribs, damaged kidneys, people beaten to death, hunger lasting for more than a year, no medical assistance whatsoever, people rotting, legs, arms, lice, bedbugs, two showers in a year–and after those showers we left dirtier than when we arrived, and beaten as well.'
Final Statements
‘When I think about everything I have been through over the past few years, I still cannot figure out for myself whether it was all worth it or not.’
‘We are the independent journalists of this country, we have no obligation to please the president.’
'This is my country, this is my home, I am responsible for it. My conscience is clear, I am not ashamed or afraid'.
‘Not a single person has died as a result of my VKontakte posts, and not a single house has been destroyed. I don't think the same can be said of Putin and Igor Konashenkov, the Defence Ministry's spokesperson, and their public statements.’
'You’re not trying a terrorist in this court. You’re trying a musician, an artist, a pacifist.'
'My only wish was to work in a socialist state.'
'And you, please promise to remain hopeful and to remember how to smile. If we lose the ability to enjoy life, it would mean they have won.'
'Our case is of no significance whatsoever, and no one involved in it deserves such cruel punishment.'
‘If the authorities do not want to serve the people, they are doomed to become a machine of violence against them.’
'All the civilian personnel at the military unit where I worked are in Ukraine. Thank God, they all underwent screening: two people were detained, but all of them were later released. When I told the investigator about this, he shook his head and said, 'You know, bro, there are no innocent people. If you're still free, it's not because of your own merit–it's because we haven't done our job well enough.''
‘These handcuffs are temporary, sooner or later, they will be removed.’
The Final Statement ‘Even from pre-trial detention, I continue to follow the news, and I still cannot understand why representatives of our state condemn restrictions on freedom of speech in…
‘...even if my works have not been good enough today, I take pride in the thought that they will serve as fertiliser for the future Soviet Homers...’
'We had no intention of committing any crimes.'
'There is little hope for the fairness of the trial'.
‘An unlawful law destroys a state faster than corrosion destroys metal’.
'No matter how long or how meticulously the authorities search for evidence of the 'crime' for which I am being tried, they will not find it. Because there was no crime, and there is no guilt.'
‘I consider it extremely important that the citizens of our country should be truly free. This is important also because our country is the largest socialist state and–whether for better or for worse–everything that happens in it affects other socialist countries.’
'At the time I served, those territories, the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR), were officially part of Ukraine. Russia did not deny that.'
Our newsletter to read a weekly Final Statement