Alexei Navalny’s final statement in court

On March 15, 13 years in a maximum security penal colony were requested for Navalny according to a fabricated case

He made his final statement in court.

The administration of the colony where the trial was held was always interrupting the broadcast, but we managed to hear the main information.

«Defendant Navalny, you are allowed to make your final statement».

If I got paid every time I heard this phrase, I’d be a pretty rich man, even taking into

account the ruble’s depreciation.

Of course, it’s funny that I’ve made so many final statements.

And people are probably rolling their eyes and saying: «If these are really his last words,

why does he continue to speak again and again?»

And this time I thought, when it was only the beginning of the process —

all this was so long ago — that maybe I would even withdraw from the final statement,

how many times can I make it?

But I still decided to speak out, because the “final statement” is such an amazing thing and it works...

You know, they do not say «sale», but «liquidation of the store», and then everyone goes shopping there.

The final statement is an opportunity for the same person in the same circumstances to speak out,

but it seems something will be heard a little more clearly.

So I’m going to make my final statement, and I want to start by addressing some issues.

These trials are essentially a dialogue between me and the authorities.

We say: «We do this», and they say: «Well, you get five years in prison».

And we do that, and then you’ll get something else - your brother will be imprisoned.

And we go on, and now it’s considered extremism.

I’m like [indistinct speech] and let’s put him in jail for 15 years.

And I want to use my final statement to make an official announcement to those who believe that

the Anti-Corruption Fund will come to an end because I’ve been isolated for a long time.

Or maybe someone hopes that the verdict will frighten someone.

No.

Not only won’t the Anti-Corruption Fund collapse, but it will become global.

We will establish an international organization «Anti-Corruption Fund», which, of course,

will still focus on the swindlers and thieves from the Kremlin,

but, nevertheless, the Fund will become bigger and stronger.

We’ll make more videos, do more investigations, expose even more people who interfere with the life of our country.

Therefore, the Anti-Corruption Fund will only develop and become international.

Considering this trial, it certainly had one peculiarity.

It was very different.

But, of course, not because of any procedural matters, nor because of the fact that it takes place

in a prison colony, and not because of these absurd requests for a gigantic term in prison.

Because with all respect, Your Honor, it’s going to be hard for you to break the record.

When I was judged in Khimki court, and I was sitting there, looking at the pictures like

this of Yezhov and Yagoda - it was very powerful.

This trial wins second place.

But there was a peculiarity, and this trial is not to be confused with anything else.

The thing is, this case has not interested anyone.

Not that it doesn’t interest the public, but because it’s surely less interesting against the backdrop of the war.

That’s why the Presidential administration chose this timing of the trial, because, of course, the war...

“War will justify everything”.

That's what it's all about.

These dead, dying…

…media outlets, which they wanted to close for years, have been closed the hell down.

The war will justify it all. This will work.

All the failures of the space industry, that's just... we're nobody in the space industry now.

We used to be the first, we used to be proud [inaudible]...

My class in school was named after Yuri Gagarin, and we used to say: “We are the first in space.”

And then ten years later we were still the first in space.

And then ten years later we were still the first in space.

Where did it all go, why did it all fall apart?

Everyone’s got tons of problems.

But today our country, which is in a state of decay and degradation,

can hardly compete with any European country.

We had everything to live like them.

And we failed. At everything.

Yes, we had a huge inflow of petrodollars since 2007, so big in fact that some of it

actually made it to the general public

and people did get rich.

But since 2013, the real income of the population has only gone down, and down, and down.

It is falling every year.

And so the public is addressing this question to government: “Hey, what's going on?”

The only number that is actually going up for us is the number of billionaires.

They are doing very well, indeed.

During the pandemic, our billionaires have made even more billions of dollars.

Everybody is getting poorer, except for those at the top.

That thousand families, Putin's thousand families, who are clinging to all this money,

who have appropriated our future, our money, our present.

What do they need a war for?

So that no one would pay attention to them.

Economists talk about lost decades.

Lost?

Did you and I lose them?

Did these decades fall out of your pocket?

No, those are stolen decades.

Very specific people whose names we know — the names that appear in our investigations —

did very specific things.

They’ve looted specific businesses, they’ve transferred very specific, non-illusory billions

into Swiss accounts, they’ve bought the very yachts that are being siezed now,

sometimes at sea.

Luxury real estate in London, in the South of France populated exclusively by Russians...

But how Russian are they?

They are so cosmopolitan.

That’s our prosperity — forever gone and now forever lost for us.

And now the war must shut up those who talk, to plug the ears of those who might be willing to hear.

This will result in our country’s collapse and disintegration.

Sounds wild.

But the phrase “Russo-Ukrainian war” sounds wild too.

It was right here to these very lawyers when our trial started on February 16 that I called

crazy anyone who thinks that there’s going to be a war with Ukraine, that Putin is going

to send in troops.

They are mad, because it can never be, I said here (inaudible).

Well?

So these mantras about Russia’s disintegration are becoming more and more likely too, because

we see that our people in power are not only greedy, vicious, ruthless, stupid,

but also crazy.

A bunch of crazy old men who don’t want to know anything, don’t understand anything,

who just — they don’t feel sorry for anything or anyone, least of all for our country.

Their homeland is those Swiss accounts, their homeland is those huge yachts.

It is clear no matter how they wrap their patriotism, their war-based hyperpatriotism

into their ideology— it is a formidable threat to us all.

Of course, something must be done with this threat.

Of course, each of us has to make a contribution.

And it is actually clear what is to be done.

To fight this war is everyone’s duty.

Because it is said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be named the children of God”.

I hope that there will be more and more of them because, you will agree, it is more interesting

to be the son of God than to be Putin's lackey, whom the devils will fry in hell.

Still, the question emerges.

What should one specifically do instead of just standing with the poster «No to War»,

although it is already very good?

My answer to that comes from a great compatriot of ours, whom I quite often... whose eyes

I often look into during this process under rather, shall we say, intimate circumstances.

As you know, in order for me to get into this hall, I have to go through

what's called a full search.

I mean, you strip, you completely undress, everything is checked...

I do it at least four times a day, and you often declare breaks,

so sometimes eight times a day.

And since all the rooms here are occupied, I'm undergoing it in the room behind the wall.

That's the school for convicts.

It is the Russian language classroom.

So it all happens in the Russian language classroom, every day, several times a day.

There is an operative standing there, he has my underpants in his hands, and he checks

them like this with a metal detector.

And next to him, I stand, naked, and look at the wall.

And from the wall, Leo Tolstoy looks at me, a great Russian man who talked a lot

about senseless wars.

Said a lot of the right things.

One of them he wrote in his diary.

I remember this note because he made it on June 4th. War is the result of despotism.

Without despotism there won’t be any war; there might have been fights, but not war.

Despotism produces war, and war sustains despotism.

Those who want to fight war must fight despotism itself.

March 22nd a verdict for Alexey Navalny will be determined.

Whatever it is, we will continue to fight Mr. Putin.

To support our work.