Ive translated the Alexey Navalnys powerful last plea where he explained his philosophy into English. Sorry for the ragged English and feel free to correct and to distribute. How many times in his lifetime can a person who does not do anything criminal or illegal say his last plea? None, zero times. Well, once if he is unlucky. As for me, in the last year and a half, two years, if we count appeals… It should be my sixth or seventh or may be tenth last plea. I have heard many times this phrase, “Defendant Navalny, you may pronounce your last plea.” It looks like with the last plea come the last days—for me, for somebody, for all. I am constantly required to say my last plea. I am saying them, but I see that the last days are not coming. And here is the main thing that convinces me so. I wish I could take a photo of all three of you here [the judge and two prosecutors], and even better, with the representatives of the so-called victims: these are the people I have been communicating with lately. People staring at their tables. You see, you are constantly staring at your tables. I am talking to all of you—and you are staring at your tables, all the time, all of you. You have nothing to say… Yelena Sergeevna [Korobchenko, the judge], what is you most popular phrase, you surely know it, that you say to me? Detectives, prosecutors, FSIN [prisons and paroles administration] officials, civil judges, criminal judges… You all say one and the same phrase: “Alexey Anatolyevich, you understand everything.” I understand everything, but I don’t understand one thing: why are you staring at your tables incessantly? I have no illusions. I understand perfectly that no one of you will jump up, turn around this table and say: “I’m sick of it all!” The Yves Rocher representatives will not stand up and say, “Navalny has convinced us with his eloquent words.” Human nature is different. Human conscience compensates the feeling of guilt, otherwise people would always be beaching like dolphins. It is impossible to simply go home and tell your children, your husband: “You know, today I participated in jailing of an innocent person. I’m suffering now and I’ll be suffering forever.” We don’t do this; our nature is different. Either they will say, “Alexey Anatolyevich, you understand everything,” or they will say, “There is no smoke without fire,” or they will say, “He shouldn’t have gone against Putin,” like the representative of the Investigative Committee [Vladimir Markin] was quoted as saying. “If he didn’t invite attention, wave his arms, obstructed citizens’ passage, everything would probably be fine.” It is nonetheless very important for me to address this part of the courtroom, the ones who will watch or read my last plea [incomprehensible] rather useless. However, people staring at their tables, they are mostly a battleground for the crooks who have taken over the government and the people who are trying to change something. We are fighting for the people who stare at their tables, shrug and do vile things when they simply should not. [There is a] well-known quote—everybody likes to quote someone today—[from] the well-known book, “To Kill the Dragon.” “Everybody was taught bad things, but why did you, moron, become the best student?” It is referring specifically to the court. [There is a] great many people who are obliged to do some vileness or, even more often, who are not forced by anyone to do this vileness, not even asked—they just stare at the table, try to ignore everything that’s going on. And our fight is for the people who stare at the tables: to explain you once again that you shouldn’t stare, that you should confess to yourselves that, unfortunately, in our beautiful country, all the power, everything that takes place, is based on endless lies. I am standing here and I am prepared to stand here as many times as necessary to prove that I don’t want to tolerate these lies, and I won’t tolerate them. The lies, literally about everything, from the first word to the last, you see? They tell me that there are no [ethnic] Russians’ interests in Turkmenistan while for [ethnic] Russians’ interests in Ukraine we should go to war. They tell me that there is no corruption at Gazprom. I show specific documents that these officials own unregistered property, own companies… They say: “None of it exists.” I say that we are ready to participate in elections and win: we have registered a party; we do a lot of stuff. They tell me: “It’s all nonsense. We are winning elections and you are not running—not because we’re not letting you but because you have provided wrong papers.” It is all based on lies, on hourly lies, you see? And the more convincing proofs of something one of us brings, the more lies we see. These lies have become a tool used by the state; they have become the essence of the state. We watch speeches of the leaders—they lie from the first word to the last, in big things and in small. Putin speaks yesterday and says, “We have no palaces.” I mean, we take photos of these palaces three times a month! We publish them; we show them. “We have no palaces… We have no oligarchs who feed from the state.” And here, look, are the documents [showing] how the head of Russian Railways has registered half of state corporations to Cyprus and Panama offshores. Why tolerate these lies? Why stare at the table? Excuse me for dragging you into philosophy, but life is too short to stare at the table. All of a sudden, I am already almost 40. All of a sudden—and I’ll have grandchildren. And then, all of a sudden, we are all lying in bed, our relatives are standing around and only thinking, “I wish he dies soon and frees some living space.” And one day we’ll realize that absolutely nothing that we’ve been doing, that we’ve been staring at tables and staying silent for, mattered. Only those moments matter in our lives when we do something right… When we do not have to stare at the table and we can simply look each other in the eyes, raise our gaze. And nothing else matters. This is exactly why this is quite a painful situation and cunning, painful [method] the Kremlin has chosen to fight me: when they are not only trying to jail me, but also drag other innocent people with me. [Pyotr] Ofitserov [Navalny’s co-defendant in a previous trial] with his five children. I have to look his wife in the eyes. I’m sure that many people tried under the Bolotnaya Case were jailed for nothing: simply to scare people like me, leaders of the opposition. I admit it: yes, they hurt me by this, by taking innocent people along like a train. But not even taking hostages will stop me. Life makes no sense if you tolerate lies. I will never accept the system that has been built in the country. It has been built in such a way that it can rob everyone in this courtroom. It is the real junta. I do not regret for a second any of my activities that I have directed against corruption. [Lawyer Vadim] Kobzev has told me: “Alexey, they’ll certainly lock you up because you trouble them; they won’t tolerate it.” He was prophetic! It is impossible to live with the thought, “Oh, they’ll lock me up!” I have been aware of it. But I don’t regret and I will call on people to implement their right to freedom of assembly, among other things. And the people have a legal right of rebellion against the junta that has usurped everything. We have let them rob us and turn us into cattle. What did they pay us in return? What did they pay you in return—you, staring at the tables? Do you have education? No. Health care? No. Roads? No. What salaries do bailiffs have? We [and] you are robbed every day. I will not tolerate it. I will stand as long as necessary—here, next to the cage [for detainees], or inside it. My brother had no plans of being involved in politics. There is no need to make things worse. Hostage taking will not stop me, but why should the government kill them? I am calling on absolutely everybody—it may sound naïve and people usually grin at it, but—do not live by the lies. I am thankful to everybody for their support and I call them not to live by the lies. If they isolate, jail me—another one will come. I was not doing anything unique. Навальный
Posted on: Fri, 19 Dec 2014 21:09:52 +0000
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