Alexei Navalny’s final statement at the retrial in the Kirovles case

please

If possible, before the final statement, I would like

to pull him away now; after the final

statement you go straight to the verdict. You’re not

insisting that I stay at the Hilton hotel,

we agreed that first class

would speak, then we’d take a short break

and sort out the issue of your departure

this morning.

I began by looking at my old

first of all, statement.

And over the past—we counted today, over the past

four years—this is my seventh

final statement. The emotions are fairly similar,

and it would be strange to repeat certain things.

It may be wrong, but I’m glad

that I looked

at that previous final statement, because there are two

important things from it that I need to say here.

First: last time, I want to begin with

the fact that

many people dislike this trial; I

naturally consider it fabricated. I

consider it political, but as a person

I am especially

offended that in this case there is

Ofitserov, a completely innocent man

who has absolutely nothing to do with my

political activity, and who for years

has been forced to go from one court

to another simply because he is an acquaintance of mine.

Once again, I demand that the court leave him

alone, because I understand why I

am here.

And everything that is being done to me can perfectly well

be done without dragging Ofitserov into it.

Second—

something about the work that has been done. I mean,

four years ago, addressing

the court, in your person,

I was addressing those who order these

trials.

We will not stop anything. And now I

feel deep satisfaction and want

to say that I tried to keep that

promise, and that the people who worked

with me also, together with me,

kept that promise. Over these four

years, I spent a year under house arrest,

I had several similar trials,

my brother was sent to prison, and I

was mostly under travel restrictions,

but nevertheless we released many

investigations; we exposed, as best we could,

though of course we should have done even better, all

this crookery and the entire organized

criminal group that has now seized

power in Russia, and to which you, unfortunately,

are subordinate.

From Shuvalov

to Putin’s relatives, to

Putin’s cellists,

we showed their wealth, we explained

to people how they robbed our entire

wonderful country. It seems to me we were

quite convincing in these

exposés. We engaged in political

activity. I took part in elections.

I did everything I spoke about here, and

perhaps now I am already addressing

the broadcast camera. I would like

to thank everyone who supported me

all this time and helped me

keep that promise.

The next thing I would like to say is that

here, in

this place—move it over here, yes—

this is a strange place from which to make

political statements. Although

perhaps in modern Russia, for

an honest person—what do you want me

to say?

That is the essence of this trial. Your Honor, you

know perfectly well that this is the essence

of the trial. The essence of the trial is that

unfortunately, for many honest people

in Russia, myself included, here

the defendant’s dock becomes the main public

platform for speaking. For the second time in

my life I am taking part in elections, and for the second time in

my life I am speaking from the defendant’s dock.

From here I want to say, once again addressing

through you those who are orchestrating this

trial: I understood everything perfectly well, and I

have taken it all in perfectly well. What the prosecution has just

stated is a kind of message

to me, and it sounds like this:

“Alexei, once again we are

politely warning you that you must not

engage in political activity,

that you cannot take part in elections,

that people like you, who threaten us,

who speak about our wealth,

who call on people not to obey

that very organized criminal

group at the top—people like you

are forbidden from participating in political

activity. You may remain on the sidelines.”

So, my answer to that message is: I

understood everything. Thank you very much, but no, I

refuse this generous offer.

My election campaign will

continue.

I believe that I have both the moral and

the legal right to take part in these

elections. We will overturn this verdict in

the ECHR and the Supreme Court even before the official

start of the campaign. In any case, according to

the Constitution,

any person who is not in a place

of imprisonment

But nevertheless,

because I am only part of this campaign

and, in a certain sense, actually rather

insignificant; much more important are

all those people who

support me, in whose interests I

speak, in whose interests I am now

I say

One last thing I want to say. Maybe

there are several different target

audiences for my election campaign.

There are, first of all,

those gathered around the pipe like a toad on a pipeline

— the beneficiaries, a few thousand people

who take all of Russia’s wealth.

With them, everything is clear. My message to them is:

we will take away your billions, we will put you in

prison. That is why they hate me.

That is why I am here, and naturally I am

supported. And then there are these wonderful

— generally good people, like you,

who know everything, but during

this process I realized that I must

tell you, even though this is an election

campaign, what I have to fight against:

you are terribly afraid

to understand and realize that in fact you

yourselves, and our country, could live much

more prosperously.

The very thought, the very idea that I come out and

say: Guys, why

are our hospitals in such ruin,

so run-down? This goes to the heart of the matter.

I need five more minutes. Why are our

hospitals falling apart, and why were they last

renovated in 1975, even though

we are so rich? And you tell me: No,

no, please be quiet, don’t say that.

I am speaking to you and saying:

my friends, all the trillions of dollars from

the sale of oil and gas

are yours. But they were taken abroad, they

turned into villas, and you answer me:

Don’t say that, Alexei, we don’t want

to hear it, it is upsetting and unpleasant, we would rather

forget about it altogether. But I will keep

reminding you of it. I tell you, for example,

a simple thing:

Putin and his gang have brought Russia

to the point where over the last 15 years it has

simply, in terms of development and economic growth,

lagged 20 percent behind the average

global growth rate. What does that mean?

It means that if Russia had done absolutely nothing

and there had been no Putin with his

cellists, we would now be living

20% better. The salary of a federal judge—

what is it, 140,000 rubles? Right? No?

Well, you could be earning

28,000 rubles more. The salary of a court clerk—

forgive me, how much is it? I strongly doubt it is

more than 30,000 rubles. The salary of a bailiff—I strongly

doubt it is more than 35,000 rubles. It is impossible

to live on that money. And I go around telling you

about this, but you—you do not want

to listen, and for some reason you are afraid, afraid

to admit that you yourselves, that all of us, can

live much more, much better,

much more prosperously. And Russia has everything: oil

and gas, human capital, people—everything.

There is a plant in Kirovo-Chepetsk. There is simply

a gas pipeline there from which money flows.

It is just money literally coming

out of the ground. Where does it all go?

That is what I want to tell all of you. And for some reason

you are afraid to hear it, but nevertheless

I will not stop. I want to tell all of you

that I love you all very much. I

understand what you are forced to do, understanding

how unpleasant this is for you. I understand very well that you

do not want to listen to this person

who goes around constantly

reminding, demanding, and calling on you

to do something. You do not want to leave your comfort

zone, and you want to say: Ah, to hell with it,

better to live on 35,000 rubles, pay

6,000 rubles for utilities, and every time in

the store just think: My God, why

is everything so expensive? But let us do nothing

even remotely political. But nevertheless

I want to tell you that this must be done.

I will keep telling all of you this

— to prosecutors, to bailiffs, we will discuss it, and

even in garages. And I am sure that many

here, everyone here now in this election,

will give me their vote, and I will

fight for your votes too. You are my

voters, and I too will lead you

into the beautiful Russia of the future, where we

will live far more prosperously than what

is being offered to us now. I do not accept the current ruling. I

do not recognize the verdict. I am not saying this

verdict will stop my election

campaign. Thank you very much.

Recess to deliberate.