NAVALNY’S CLOSING STATEMENT
2 FEBRUARY 2021
Aleksey Navalny’s Closing Statement, full text:
“I would like to start with a discussion of a legal issue, which seems to me to be the major issue here and a bit overlooked in the course of this discussion. Everything looks a bit uncanny. Two people are sitting here, and one of them says: let’s put Navalny in prison because he appeared [for his probation check-in] on Mondays, instead of Thursdays. And the second one says: let’s put Navalny in prison because, having come out of a coma, he did not arrive in person for his probation check-in.
But I would like to say a few words about a small elephant in this room so that everyone, all the press, all people note the fact that the essence of the case is to sentence me to a prison term in a case in which I was found not guilty, in a case that was fabricated.
This is not my opinion. If we open a textbook on criminal law —and I hope, Your Honor, you‘ve done that a couple of times in your lifetime — Russia is a member of the Council of Europe. The European Court wrote that there is no corpus delicti [in the Yves Rocher case] [The Latin term corpus delicti refers to the principle that there must be some proof that a crime has been committed before a person can be convicted of having committed that crime.] The case on which I am in this cage [Navalny is speaking in a glass cage in the court] right now is completely fabricated. Moreover, the Russian Federation admitted it — halfway — by paying me compensation. Thus, the Russian Federation recognized the decision of the European Court of Human Rights.
Despite this, my brother served three and a half years in prison. I spent a year under house arrest in this case. When my probationary period ended, I was arrested a week before the expiration, brought to you in Simonovsky court, and my probationary period was extended for another year — without defense.
Here is some math. The verdict came in 2014. It is 2021 now. They continue to put me on trial [even though] they have already admitted that I was not guilty and the case was fabricated. Nevertheless, with the obsession of a maniac, our state demands to put me in prison in this case.
Someone really wants me to be unable to take a single step in our country as a free person, and, on crossing the border, I was immediately arrested. And we know who it is; we know the reason for it. It is the hatred and fear of just one person, a person who is living in a bunker. I inflicted a mortal offense on him by the fact that I survived after they tried to kill me on his orders.
[The prosecutor is trying to interrupt Navalny.]
This is my opinion. And the fact that the prosecution is trying to interrupt me and shut me down, also shows really well what is happening. What I am saying has a lot to do with what is happening.
Let’s continue. I inflicted a mortal offense [on Putin] by the fact that I survived thanks to good people, pilots and doctors. After that, I did not hide, living somewhere in a bunker under protection. And then a terrible thing happened — I participated in the investigation of my own poisoning, and we showed and proved that it was Putin, who used the FSB to carry out the attempted murder. And I was not the only one to whom it happened. Now many people know about this and more will still find out, and this drives the little thief in the bunker mad.
It turned out that in order to supressa political opponent who has no TV and a political party, you just need to kill him with chemical weapons. Now everyone could see that he [Putin] was just a bureaucrat who was randomly placed in the president’s chair, who never participated in any debates or elections, and that his only method [of governing] is to try to kill people.
And no matter how much [Vladimir Putin] tries to pretend to be geopolitics, his resentment towards me [is all about the fact] that he will go down in history as a poisoner. There were Alexander the Liberator and Yaroslav the Wise, and this man will go down in history as the Vladimir the Underwear Poisoner. I am guarded by the police, half of Moscow is cordoned off because we showed [inour investigation] that he orders to steal the opponents’ underpants and smear them with chemical weapons.
The main thing in this process is to intimidate a huge number of people. They jail one to scare millions. We have 20 million people below the poverty line. Tens of millions live without the slightest hope for the future. Living in Moscow is bearable but if you drive 100 kilometers away it is terrible, and the whole country lives in this terrible state. People’s monthly salaries are 20,000 rubles [$264] — and they are trying to intimidate people with such show trials.
The main thing I want to say is that I really hope that this process will not be perceived as a signal to be more afraid. The National Guard, a glass cage in a courtroom are a demonstration of weakness. Millions and hundreds of thousands cannot be all imprisoned. And I really hope that people will become more and more aware of this. And when they realize that — and such a moment will arrive — you will not be able to put the whole country in prison because everyone [but the government] get nothing from our national resources, zero! I am in my cell and all I hear is that the prices for pasta and eggs have risen! It is 2021; [we live in] an oil-exporting country, and you have deprived these people of prospects and are trying to intimidate them.
The judge interrupts Navalny: “Let’s get back to the case [which is the synonym of “show!” “I’m already at a snow,” replies Navalny.
“All this is a performance, right here. And all I’m saying is related to this performance. When lawlessness and arbitrariness are at the core of the political system it’s terrible. But it can be worse: lawlessness and arbitrariness masquerade, dress up in a prosecutor’s uniform and a judicial robe. And when it happens, the duty of every person is not to obey the laws that are dressed in these robes, and the duty of every person is not to obey you and such laws.
It is the duty of every person to fight this system. And my duty is to fight. I fight as best I can and will continue to do so. I happened to be captured by the people who love to smear everything with chemical weapons. And they won’t give a cent [three kopecks] for my life now. But even now, from here, I will fight with you and urge everyone not to be afraid! I salute all those who are fighting and are not afraid, the Anti-Corruption Fund employees who are now being persecuted, people all over the country who are not afraid to protest in the streets. They have the same rights as you. Our country belongs to them as much as to you. We are all citizens. We demand lawful elections, real justice. There are many good things in Russia, and the best thing is the very people who are not afraid, do not lower their eyes, do not look at the desk, who will never give their country to a bunch of corrupt officials who decided to exchange their homeland for vineyards and “aqua-diskos.” I demand my immediate release. This show trial is illegal. I do not recognize it. Thanks.”
*This is a translation of an МБХ transcript. There were a few lines omitted from the original speech.
