On February 15, Alexei's trial began at the penal colony in Pokrov. In this combined case on charges of “fraud” and “contempt of court,” he could have his sentence extended by another 15 years. We are publishing the speech he delivered on the first day of this absurd trial.
Thank you very much, Your Honor, for the opportunity to state my position on the charges. I do have one. I will try to express it clearly and specifically. It will take some time. Your Honor, prosecutor, more than an hour has already passed. I’ll try to speak a little louder—please don’t think I’m shouting, I was just told that the broadcast can’t hear me well, so let’s make it louder.
What emotion do you think I felt when I read these charges here in the colony? Anger, denial, acceptance? What did I feel? Maybe I was furious that you had fabricated such an obviously fake case? No. Jubilation! You know, I picture a happy man: sprawled in an armchair like Leonardo DiCaprio in that meme, holding a glass of champagne. I was happy, absolutely over the moon, and now you’ll understand why.
For many years, I have conducted my political work in the only way—and, it seems to me, the most honest way—by collecting donations from people. Those who want to send me money do so; those who don’t, don’t. I have never taken a single kopeck of state money, and I am very proud of that. My colleagues and I are exactly the kind of politicians who exist solely because they have support. We’ve been doing this for quite a long time. We started raising money in 2011, and since then about 300,000 people have donated to us. On average, around 500–600 rubles each. 300,000 people!
2011 was quite a long time ago, and obviously over that time some people became disappointed in what I do—maybe they didn’t like something I said about an issue they cared about, or something else. That happens. Today you vote for one party, tomorrow you vote for another. Today you like Navalny, tomorrow you like Putin. Or vice versa—it happens. So when, while in Germany receiving medical treatment, I announced that I was returning to Russia, the Investigative Committee replied, in effect: “We’ll put you in prison for stealing all the donations,” and issued press releases—which we will examine during this trial—claiming that I had stolen and spent 1 billion rubles on myself... Then there was a press release saying I had stolen 385 million rubles. And so on, and so on.
I understood, of course—it was obvious what they were trying to produce in the end—but there were 300,000 people! And we knew they were interrogating everyone indiscriminately. People across the regions were writing: “We’re being summoned for questioning.” In other words, everyone who had donated to us—and we accepted all donations cashlessly, so there were lists of every donor... I understood that probably quite a few people, simply because they had become disappointed in me or my colleagues in some way, might go ahead and file a complaint.
So what happened? After all your claims that I “stole a billion and spent it on myself,” “stole 300 million and spent it on myself”—what did you actually bring to court? You literally brought materials showing that there are four people. Out of 300,000 donors over all these years, four people filed complaints involving 2 million rubles.
One of them is a mechanic. And literally, this is what it says here: “I watched Navalny’s videos, thought, what a great guy Navalny is, and then I took 1 million rubles—1 million 20 thousand rubles—and transferred it to Navalny.” And then three weeks later the mechanic thought: “No, Navalny isn’t great, he deceived me.” He files a complaint, and the very next day a criminal case is opened.
And that means that if anyone ever asks me, “What evidence do you have that the Anti-Corruption Foundation is the most honest, most transparent organization?” I will say: my evidence is the materials of this criminal case. And you will see that every single transfer is documented. There are simply printouts here of all card payments: mine, my wife’s, my daughter’s, and those of most ACF staff.
There is nothing here. There are two alleged victims whom you yourselves brought in—people who transferred money and then became so disappointed that they filed complaints—and there are two intimidated businesspeople who themselves are facing criminal charges. And that’s all.
You used the phrase here that we “misappropriated funds for personal needs.” But there is not a single word, even in your wholly, completely fabricated case, not a single word saying that even one kopeck of that money came to me. Or that I or my colleagues transferred even one kopeck for our personal use.
So yes, of course I felt jubilation, and of course I felt enormous gratitude toward those same 300,000 people whom you intimidated and pressured, and not one of them filed a complaint. You had to go looking for fake stand-ins to send us money, because out of 300,000 people not one came forward. These are the best people. Of course I feel jubilation. I feel jubilation when I weigh our system, in which the “Chinese wall” between donated funds and personal money was never crossed even once, and not a single kopeck ever went anywhere or to anyone except toward our work.
If there is anything useful in this case, it is that it really amounts to a global audit of everything ACF did, and it has fully proven that we did absolutely everything correctly, spent everything on exactly the work we said we would—anti-corruption work—and that we did it all very well and did it right. And our movement is an astonishing political force, one in which you can find 300,000 people who will not sell you out, even under pressure and intimidation from investigators and everyone else.
As for the essence of the charges, it is of course this: people are forbidden to engage in political activity without your permission. Without the permission of the Kremlin and everyone else. Because what, in essence, did I do? People support the national leader, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin. And I do not! And surely no one would dispute that there are different politicians, people with different views, and they vote for representatives of different parties. And I believe I have every right to come out and make political demands. Because I do not like what is happening here; I hate what is happening here. The base pay for a paramedic in this colony is 14,000 rubles, do you understand? With all bonuses included, the monthly salary is 21,000 rubles. Oil is at $93 a barrel, Putin is building himself a palace for 100 billion rubles, and a paramedic gets 21,000. Here an inspector, a grown, sturdy man, gets 25,000. That’s why the operatives are the ones opening the local cellblock doors—because of staff turnover, because no one wants to work, because there is no pay. The whole Vladimir region is breaking its back for 25,000 rubles. And I don’t like that. I have the right not to like it. I do not understand how a country that has been pumping oil and gas for 20 years can have such poverty.
So I bring together those who also do not like this, I unite them into a party, into a movement, and I investigate where the paramedic’s money was stolen, where this inspector’s money was stolen, where your money was stolen—and yours, and yours, and mine, and pensions, and everything else. Yes, we investigate this, and investigations require money. What is the best and most honest way? Probably to ask people directly, to find someone and say: in your view, what money should a politician live on—budget money? They would say: collect it from the people who support that politician. That is what I decided to do. And I do it, and I will continue doing it. There is no other way to conduct normal political activity except for a person who states what they support and oppose, unites others, raises money from them, and continues the work.
This is a courtroom, a judicial inquiry... So let’s conduct a courtroom experiment here. I am telling you right now, Your Honor, prosecutor, you may write this down: at 4:25 p.m., citizen Navalny, while at such-and-such address in the penal colony, called on—right here and right now—all employees of the Anti-Corruption Foundation to continue their investigations, continue publishing evidence of corruption, keep finding where Putin, his circle, his relatives, his second wife, third wife—where they put the stolen money. Investigate all these United Russia ministers, publish it, and call on everyone else to spread it.
I call on everyone—what is the usual phrase, an “unlimited group of persons”?—I call on people, on citizens of Russia, to make donations to us in order to fund this anti-corruption work. Spread this widely, because this is my political activity, and yes, I am fighting to change the government in this country. I do not want these people sitting in the Kremlin. They have been sitting there for decades! It cannot be right that every minister in this country is officially already a dollar millionaire. They are thieves. I believe they are thieves. I ask you to donate to us so that we can investigate the activities of these thieves.
Then at every new court hearing I will even talk about the fundraising campaign—let’s call it the courtroom donations campaign. You can open another criminal case against me right now, do you understand? What would it be—“with criminal intent to embezzle funds, he called for fundraising”? You can call it that, open another case as I said, do whatever you want to me—I see no other normal, honest way to conduct political activity except through donations. If I think they are thieves, I say so, I prove they are thieves, and I show it to everyone.
I will take part in elections. Yes, there is now legislation written specifically for me, and all of you keep repeating that I have no right to run in elections. Not only that—I see in your materials the following, and I quote: “Volkov made a false statement that he is the head of Navalny’s campaign.” Wonderful! So now even you know better than I do who heads my campaign. Volkov is the fake head of my campaign. You can write anything you like, but the simple fact is this: I want to take part in elections. I want other candidates to take part in elections. I want there to be a party people can vote for. I demand access to elections for other people and for myself. What is unfair or unusual about that? You think I should not be allowed to run, and I think that is illegal and wrong. And I want to take part in elections, and once again I appeal to everyone: if you believe that I and people like me should be allowed to run, then let’s unite and act together. Support us financially. If we are not allowed on the ballot, take part in Smart Voting (Navalny’s tactical voting strategy) in order to hammer the United Russia candidates standing behind you.
(Judge Kotova: Alexei Anatolyevich, we are now hearing your position regarding the charges against you...)
That is exactly what I am talking about! You see, the words “United Russia” are mentioned, and immediately you are face to face with the charge—there is nowhere closer to it. Because my activity is the activity of organizing people who do not like United Russia and Putin, who hate United Russia and Putin, who want to remove United Russia and Putin from power, because United Russia and Putin are the plundering of our country.
This is an objective fact, do you understand? It is the objective fact of poverty. Just look at Pokrov! I haven’t seen Pokrov... They transport me around all the time, you know, and the vehicle has no windows. But you drove through the town of Pokrov. It is only 100 kilometers from Moscow, but you saw it—it’s like some kind of dump for the destitute! Why is this happening? Because this is the kind of government we have. I will fight it. I see no other way. I will continue to fight it. And I am not afraid of this court, or the colony, or the FSB, or chemical weapons, or Putin, or anyone else. I am not afraid, because I consider it degrading and pointless to be afraid of all this.
What is terrible is to live badly and make peace with all of this. To look at this wrecked road and accept it, do you understand? It is the twenty-first century! Yes, of course, the road in Pokrov—it basically does not exist. But why does it not exist? Yes, a paramedic gets 14,000 rubles. But why should I accept that? Why should everyone else accept it?
We understand this, we are organizing our work accordingly, and we will continue. And I believe I have the right to take part in elections. I will fight for that. Maybe one day I will take part in them, maybe not. Maybe I will win some office, maybe I won’t, but that will depend on the people, on the voters, who will vote for me if I act properly, or will not vote for me if I act badly and without clarity.
I... honestly don’t even know whether I need to comment on the other part of this exotic case, the part about insults. It suddenly occurred to me that maybe this is entertainment for you yourselves. Because first, combining fraud and insults in one case is strange, and second, when you read these “insults,” how did you keep from laughing? So, here is the insulting phrase: “Your Honor, you are violating the law.” Your Honor, please look—even in the text, the “Y” in “You” is capitalized. Because obviously, in its tone, does the phrase “Your Honor, you are violating the law” insult anyone? No. Today we discussed admitting a lawyer, and I told you: “You are violating the law.” You told me: “No, I am not,” and cited something. We talked. Is that an insult to a judge?
“I am waiting for you to finish.” Whom does that insult? The prosecutor, the judge? And of course my favorite: quotation marks open—“oh my God”—quotation marks close. Oh my God, Your Honor, if you are going to put every person on trial for saying “oh my God,” I do not know what will happen. Then, if someone really thinks a person should be tried for saying “oh my God,” they should have written that Navalny, while at such-and-such place at such-and-such time, insulted God, because it is forbidden to take the name of our Lord in vain. Whom could I possibly have insulted with the phrase “oh my God”?
And I understand why this was done, because it is an attempt to intimidate—to say that if you speak up, if you do not simply stay silent, if you do not obediently nod, if you do not grovel, if you are not afraid of us, the judges and the prosecutor with two, three, ten stars on their epaulettes, then we will keep slapping criminal cases on you.
And I don’t give a damn! Good Lord, go ahead and fabricate them! I still will not be silent, do you understand? After some FSB officers followed me around for two years and poisoned me with a chemical weapon, and I spent 20 days in a coma and then another 20 days in hallucinations, it would simply be ridiculous for me to fear your court. I wasn’t afraid of it before, and now I certainly won’t be.
In closing, I want to say that of course, point by point—quite literally point by point—we will expose all these lies during this trial. In fact, there is hardly anything even to expose: you say I spent money on personal needs, but nothing of the sort is even mentioned here—just zero! We will go through everything point by point and refute it all point by point.
Of course, I understand—this is not my first trial, and I am not a naive person—that the verdict will be guilty, and it will carry a fairly long sentence. And there is only one point to it. Since I so offended your dark lord Putin that I not only survived but also returned, he apparently said: if he thinks he is so tough, then let him sit in prison. He came back—and now he will sit there for life, and there will be this case, then a second case, then a third, and the sentence will be extended endlessly. So be it. I believe that my work, and the work of my colleagues, is still more important than the fate of any one individual. And I believe that the worst thing I could actually do, the real crime I could commit, would be to become afraid of all of you—of you and of those standing behind you. I tell you once again that I am not afraid, and once again I call on everyone else not to be afraid either, because there is nothing here to fear. What we should fear is spending our whole lives like this—our whole lives in poverty, degradation, and hopelessness—and leaving our children all of this as their inheritance: this servility, this subservience, and the same dreary ожидание of a better future that will never come as long as this gang of thieves remains in power.