Transcript:
Distinguished attendees, first of all, I would like to thank everyone who has come and supported us over the past years. I would also like to thank you, Your Honor, for your patience and the way you organized the entire process. For us, this was our first court case, and there was much we did not know. You ran the proceedings strictly, but there were times when you relieved the tension with your humor. I do not know about the others, but it certainly made things easier for me.
Thank you, Irina Sergeyevna, for your principled approach and for always striving to adhere to the letter of the law. But above all, I am grateful that you did not distort the name of God — Jehovah.
Thank you, Anna Sergeyevna, for the tremendous work you have done. Thank you to our lawyers for taking a genuine interest in us: you gave us guidance when things were unclear and corrected us. I especially want to thank you, Maksim Vladimirovich, for your active participation in the proceedings, for your help and defense. You are a true professional. We have seen you more often than some of our close friends.
I would not be mistaken in saying that this is the first court case in Simferopol in which Christians — Jehovah's Witnesses — are being prosecuted for our faith. But thanks to these hearings, many here learned about God — that he has a name, Jehovah, and that he has a Son — Jesus Christ. From the video and audio recordings we watched and listened to, it was clear that the Bible teaches us to imitate God by showing love to one another. It is very regrettable that some people form their opinion of us based on news reports and do not verify this information, even though it is unreliable and sometimes blatantly false. Sadly, many people do not want to look beyond that.
I want to assure everyone that I have not broken any law of the state. I am a law-abiding citizen. I am a peaceful believer who has practiced his religion for over 35 years. I have never committed any crimes of an …