I would like to begin with a legal issue that seems to me to be the main one, and one that has been somewhat overlooked in this discussion. Because the whole thing looks rather strange. Here are two people sitting there, and one of them says: let’s imprison Navalny because he reported in not on Mondays but on Thursdays. And the other says: let’s imprison Navalny because, after coming out of a coma, he did not immediately come to our inspectorate. And so this discussion goes on, with everyone discussing Mondays, Thursdays, when someone was supposed to send which piece of paper, and so on. But I would like to say a few words about the small elephant in the room. I would like everyone to pay attention once again—all the press writing about this trial, all the people watching—to the fact that the essence of this case is to imprison me in a case in which I have already been found innocent, a case that has already been recognized as fabricated. This is not just my opinion, because if we open any criminal law textbook—I hope, Your Honor, that you have done that a couple of times in your life—we will see that the European Court of Human Rights is part of Russia’s judicial system, because Russia is a member of the Council of Europe, and its rulings are binding. And after going through all the necessary stages of the legal process, I appealed to the European Court, and the European Court issued a ruling that stated in black and white that there was not even any crime in the *Yves Rocher* case. The case for which I am standing in this strange cage is entirely fabricated. What is more, the Russian Federation, broadly speaking, acknowledged that ruling—half-heartedly. I was even paid compensation in this case, thereby acknowledging the ECHR’s decision. Despite this, my brother served three and a half years in prison in this case, which was, once again, recognized as fabricated by a court ruling binding in Russia. I spent a year under house arrest in this case. When my probation period was about to end, I was arrested a week before that, brought to the Simonovsky District Court, and, without any real defense, with some court-appointed lawyer thrust upon me, my probation was extended by another year. Let’s do a little math. In 2014 I was convicted, given a three-and-a-half-year sentence, and put on probation. It is now 2021, and yet I am still being prosecuted in this case. I have already been found innocent, it has already been established that there was no crime in this case, and still, with the persistence of a maniac, our state demands that I be imprisoned over it. Why this case? It is certainly not as if there is any shortage of criminal cases against me. Another one was opened quite recently. Nevertheless, someone very much wanted to make sure that, upon returning as a free man, I would not take a single step on the territory of our country. That from the moment I crossed the border, I would be under arrest. And we know who wanted that. We know why this happened. The reason for all of this is the hatred and fear of one man living in a bunker. Because I inflicted a mortal insult on him by surviving after they tried to kill me on his orders. (The prosecutor, Frolova, asks the judge to reprimand Navalny.) I do not need your reprimand, Your Honor! Is this prosecutor now going to stop me from finishing what I have to say about everything that is happening? (The prosecutor asks what issue is currently under consideration; defense lawyer Mikhailova asks the judge to reprimand the prosecutor.) I am speaking to the motion, Your Honor. That this is the kind of hearing we are having on this motion—that is my opinion. I am expressing my opinion about the motion in full accordance with the law. And the fact that the prosecution representative is trying to interrupt me at every word and shut me up also perfectly characterizes everything that is happening. Because what I am saying is directly related to what is happening here. Let us continue. I inflicted a mortal insult on him by surviving thanks to good people—pilots and doctors. Then I insulted him even more by not hiding away somewhere under guard in some smaller bunker that I could have afforded. And then something truly terrible happened. Not only did I survive, not only was I not frightened and did not hide—I also took part in the investigation of my own poisoning, and we showed and proved that it was Putin, using the FSB, who carried out an attempted murder. And I was not the only one saying this; many people know it now, and many more will learn it, and this drives that little thieving man in the bunker insane. It is precisely this fact—that everything has been exposed, you see? There are no ratings, no huge support—none of that exists, because it turned out that in order to deal with a political opponent who has neither television nor a political party, all you have to do is try to kill him with chemical weapons. Of course he is going mad, because everyone has seen that he is just a bureaucrat who was randomly placed in the presidency, who has never taken part in debates or elections, and whose only method of struggle is trying to kill people. And no matter how much he tries to portray himself as a great geopolitical strategist, a great world leader, his main grievance against me now is that he will go down in history precisely as a poisoner. You know, there was Alexander the Liberator and Yaroslav the Wise, and now we will have Vladimir the Underpants Poisoner of Cowards. That is exactly how he will go down in history. (They try to object to Navalny.) Your Honor, this is directly relevant [to the motion]! I am standing here, in this place, guarded by the police, with the National Guard here, half of Moscow cordoned off, precisely because the little man in the bunker is going mad over the fact that we proved and showed that he is not engaged in geopolitics at all, but holds meetings where he decides to steal political opponents’ underpants and smear them with chemical weapons. The main thing in this trial is not even how it ends for me—whether I am imprisoned or not. Imprisoning me is not difficult, whether in this case or another one. The main purpose of all this is to intimidate a huge number of people. That is how it works: one person is imprisoned in order to frighten millions. We have 20 million people living below the poverty line, tens of millions living with no prospects whatsoever. Tens of millions of people are exactly the kind we talk about every day: life in Moscow is still more or less okay, but go 100 kilometers (62 miles) outside it and everything is a complete disaster. And our whole country lives in that complete disaster, with no prospects whatsoever, earning 20,000 rubles a month (about $270 at the time). And they all stay silent, and they are being silenced by exactly these kinds of show trials. Imprison this one person to frighten millions. Someone goes out into the street—imprison five more people to frighten 15 million. The main thing I want to say is this: I very much hope that people will not take this trial as a signal that they should be more afraid. This is not a demonstration of strength—the National Guard, the cage. It is a demonstration of weakness, pure weakness. You cannot imprison millions and hundreds of thousands, and I very much hope that people will understand this more and more. And when they do understand it—and that moment will come—all of this will collapse. Because you cannot imprison the whole country. All these people who have been deprived of prospects, deprived of a future, who live in the richest country and get nothing from the national wealth, nothing! The only thing that is growing is the number of billionaires, while everything else is declining, do you understand? I sit in my cell and hear on the news that butter has become more expensive, pasta has become more expensive, eggs have become more expensive. It is 2021, the country is an exporter of oil and gas, and the whole country is talking about pasta getting more expensive and about how we can no longer live like this! You have deprived these people of prospects, and you are trying to frighten them. I call on everyone not to be afraid. This entire system of power is based precisely on that. (The judge tells Navalny that he is not at a rally and suggests returning to the motion.) I will not just return to it—I am already right there, in the very center of it. You say that I have said nothing about the motion. But all of this is the motion. Everything I am saying is my attitude toward the motion that you have staged. There are times when lawlessness and arbitrariness are the essence of a political system, and that is terrible. But there is something even worse: when lawlessness and arbitrariness dress themselves up in a prosecutor’s uniform or a judge’s robe. And in that case, every person’s duty is not to obey the laws dressed up in those robes. Behind you, inside you, there is arbitrariness and lawlessness, and every person’s duty is not to obey you, not to obey such laws. (The judge again demands that he return to the motion and says: “Let’s not engage in politics!”) How can we not engage in politics?! I have formed an opinion about this motion, and I am expressing it to you. I have no other opinion, so please be so kind as to hear me out. Once again I want to say: when arbitrariness and lawlessness have put on your uniforms and pretend to be the law, every honest person’s duty is not to obey you and to fight you by every means possible. And I am fighting, as best I can, and I will continue to do so. Although, given that I am now completely under the control of people who love smearing everything with chemical weapons, probably no one would give three kopecks for my life. But even so, even now, from where I stand, I say that I will fight you, and I call on everyone else not to fear you and to do everything so that law may prevail, not people dressed up in uniforms and robes. And I salute all those who fight and are not afraid, all honest people. I salute and thank the employees of the ACF (Anti-Corruption Foundation), who are also under arrest, and everyone else across the country who is not afraid and goes out into the streets, because they have the same rights as you do. Because our country belongs to them to exactly the same extent as it belongs to you, and to everyone else. We are the same citizens, and we demand normal justice, normal treatment, participation in elections, participation in the distribution of national wealth. Yes, we demand all of this! There are many good things in Russia today. And the best thing is precisely those people who are not afraid, who do not lower their eyes, do not stare at the table, and will never hand our country over to a bunch of corrupt officials who have decided to trade our Motherland for their palaces, vineyards, and aqua discos. I demand immediate freedom for myself and for the others who have been arrested. I do not recognize this motion. It is entirely false; it does not comply with the law. And I demand immediate release.
February 2, 2021. Moscow City Court