0:00:02.254,0:00:05.737 By and large the current process is not about 0:00:05.737,0:00:08.872 the three singers in the group Pussy Riot 0:00:08.872,0:00:14.212 if that was the case then the proceedings here would be irrelevant 0:00:14.212,0:00:18.949 It is the entire state system of the Russian Federation which is on trial 0:00:18.949,0:00:24.499 and which, to its own detriment, takes such pleasure in inflicting cruelty on people 0:00:24.499,0:00:27.309 and indifference to human respect and dignity. 0:00:27.309,0:00:30.884 As bad as the very worst of Russian history. 0:00:30.884,0:00:35.064 The simulation of a court process comes close to the standards of Stalin's "troikas" [extrajudicial panels] 0:00:35.064,0:00:37.549 to my deep regret. 0:00:37.549,0:00:40.056 Thus, we have our investigator, lawyer and judge. 0:00:40.056,0:00:43.539 And then, what’s more, what all three of them do and say and decide 0:00:43.539,0:00:49.089 is determined by a political demand for repression. 0:00:49.089,0:00:51.457 Who is guilty for what happened during 0:00:51.457,0:00:53.849 the performance at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour 0:00:53.849,0:00:56.659 and the trial which followed our concert? 0:00:56.659,0:00:59.584 The authoritarian political system is guilty. 0:00:59.584,0:01:03.299 That which Pussy Riot does, is opposition art 0:01:03.299,0:01:07.502 or even politics, taking on forms developed by art. 0:01:07.502,0:01:10.265 In any case it is the kind of civil activity 0:01:10.265,0:01:14.190 under conditions of pressure from a corporate state system 0:01:14.190,0:01:16.465 on basic human rights 0:01:16.465,0:01:19.252 on civil and political freedoms. 0:01:19.252,0:01:24.731 Many people, who have been methodically robbed of their freedoms 0:01:24.731,0:01:29.724 are now rebelling. 0:01:29.724,0:01:32.464 We are looking for sincerity and simplicity 0:01:32.464,0:01:35.227 and we found both in our punk performances. 0:01:35.227,0:01:46.210 Passion, sincerity, and naivety are above hypocrisy, deceit, feigned modesty, and hiding your crime. 0:01:46.210,0:01:50.784 The country's top brass stand in cathedral with righteous faces 0:01:50.784,0:01:54.174 but they are sly, their sins are far greater than ours. 0:01:54.174,0:01:57.866 We do our political punk concerts because 0:01:57.866,0:01:59.933 the Russian state system is ruled by such 0:01:59.933,0:02:02.626 stiffness, opacity, and class 0:02:02.626,0:02:07.387 and policies are subject only to narrow corporate interests 0:02:07.387,0:02:11.496 so much so that Russian air makes us ill. 0:02:11.496,0:02:13.958 Against our wishes, we are made to act and live 0:02:13.958,0:02:18.068 with the politically coercive and violent techniques 0:02:18.068,0:02:22.224 to control social processes. 0:02:22.224,0:02:25.452 The situation, when the most important political institutions 0:02:25.452,0:02:28.308 are the state's disciplinary structures, 0:02:28.308,0:02:31.721 law enforcement, the army, the police, the security services 0:02:31.721,0:02:35.065 and the corresponding means for achieving political stability involve 0:02:35.065,0:02:41.172 prisons, preventive detention, mechanisms of strict control over the behaviour of citizens. 0:02:41.172,0:02:46.582 We also do not like the forced passivity of most of the civilian population 0:02:46.582,0:02:50.669 and also the complete domination of executive branch 0:02:50.669,0:02:53.014 over the legislature and judiciary. 0:02:53.014,0:02:55.429 In addition, we are sincerely annoyed 0:02:55.429,0:02:59.213 at the scandalously low level of political culture, built on fear 0:02:59.213,0:03:02.789 a level which consciously supports the state system and its cronies. 0:03:02.789,0:03:05.204 Just look at what Patriarch Kirill says 0:03:05.204,0:03:07.387 that Orthodox believers do not attend the demonstrations. 0:03:07.387,0:03:11.079 We are annoyed by the scandalous weakness 0:03:11.079,0:03:14.306 of community connections within society. 0:03:14.306,0:03:17.743 We do not like the state's manipulation of public opinion 0:03:17.743,0:03:23.014 easily carried out thanks to tight control over most media 0:03:23.014,0:03:26.567 by state agencies, and for example, 0:03:26.567,0:03:32.534 the exceptionally arrogant and base distortion of facts and words in the campaign against Pussy Riot, 0:03:32.534,0:03:35.344 launched in almost all Russian media, 0:03:35.344,0:03:40.545 except for independent ones, a rarity in this political system. 0:03:40.545,0:03:44.980 Nonetheless I now state that 0:03:44.980,0:03:51.296 even though this situation is authoritarian 0:03:51.296,0:03:54.988 and even though the political system is authoritarian 0:03:54.988,0:04:02.418 I still see the collapse of this political system 0:04:02.418,0:04:06.575 in its response to the three members of Pussy Riot 0:04:06.575,0:04:10.220 because that which the system depends on, was wrong. 0:04:10.220,0:04:17.047 Unfortunately for the system, Russia as a whole does not condemn us 0:04:17.047,0:04:20.669 and with every day more and more people believe us and believe in us 0:04:20.669,0:04:24.106 and think we should be free rather than behind bars. 0:04:24.106,0:04:26.567 I can see this from people I meet. 0:04:26.567,0:04:34.531 I meet people who represent the system, who work for the relevant agencies. 0:04:34.531,0:04:42.519 And every day there are more and more people who wish us well 0:04:42.519,0:04:46.768 who hope for our success and especially for our release 0:04:46.768,0:04:49.973 who say our political act was justified 0:04:49.973,0:04:52.898 More and more, people tell us 0:04:52.898,0:04:58.425 At first, we weren't sure you could have done this 0:04:58.425,0:05:03.487 but every day there are more and more people who say 0:05:03.487,0:05:10.197 Time is proving to us that your political gesture was correct. 0:05:10.197,0:05:21.459 You have exposed the cancer in this political system and dealt a blow to a nest of vipers, which then turned on you. 0:05:21.459,0:05:26.869 These people are trying to make life easier for us in whatever way they can 0:05:26.869,0:05:29.261 and we are very grateful to them for that 0:05:29.261,0:05:32.721 We are grateful to all those who, free themselves, speak out in our support. 0:05:32.721,0:05:35.066 There are a vast number, I know. 0:05:35.066,0:05:39.361 I know that a huge number of Orthodox people are standing up for us. 0:05:39.361,0:05:43.564 They are praying for us outside the courtroom 0:05:43.564,0:05:48.348 for the members of Pussy Riot who are incarcerated. 0:05:48.348,0:05:53.758 We’ve seen the booklets Orthodox people are handing out 0:05:53.758,0:05:58.309 with prayers for those in prison 0:05:58.309,0:06:05.809 This shows that there isn’t a unified social group of Orthodox believers 0:06:05.809,0:06:09.338 as the prosecution is claiming. 0:06:09.338,0:06:11.335 No such thing exists. 0:06:11.335,0:06:17.024 More and more believers are starting to defend Pussy Riot. 0:06:17.024,0:06:24.896 They don’t think what we did deserves even five months in detention 0:06:24.896,0:06:31.746 much less the three years in prison the prosecutor would like. 0:06:31.746,0:06:34.927 And every day, more and more people realize 0:06:34.927,0:06:38.990 that if this political system has ganged up to this extent against three girls 0:06:38.990,0:06:43.193 for a 30-second performance in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour 0:06:43.193,0:06:47.466 it means the system is afraid of the truth 0:06:47.466,0:06:51.529 and afraid of our sincerity and directness 0:06:51.529,0:06:55.198 We haven’t dissembled, not for a second 0:06:55.198,0:06:58.820 not for a minute during this trial 0:06:58.820,0:07:02.605 but the other side is dissembling too much and people can sense it. 0:07:02.605,0:07:05.066 People can sense the truth. 0:07:05.066,0:07:09.896 Truth really does have some kind of ontological, existential superiority over lies 0:07:09.896,0:07:14.819 and this is written in the Bible, in the Old Testament in particular. 0:07:14.819,0:07:22.133 In the end, the ways of truth always triumph over the ways of wickedness, guile and lies. 0:07:22.133,0:07:25.941 And with each day that passes, 0:07:25.941,0:07:34.068 the ways of truth are more and more triumphant 0:07:34.068,0:07:36.506 even though we are still behind bars 0:07:36.506,0:07:38.666 and are likely to be here a lot longer yet. 0:07:38.666,0:07:41.452 Madonna performed yesterday [7 August]. 0:07:41.452,0:07:45.585 She appeared with Pussy Riot written on her back. 0:07:45.585,0:07:48.627 More and more people can see 0:07:48.627,0:07:51.251 that we are being held here unlawfully and on a completely false charge 0:07:51.251,0:07:53.642 I’m overwhelmed by this 0:07:53.642,0:08:01.026 I am overwhelmed that truth really does triumph over lies 0:08:01.026,0:08:04.626 even though physically we are here in a cage. 0:08:04.626,0:08:07.064 We are freer than the people sitting opposite us 0:08:07.064,0:08:09.989 for the prosecution because we can say everything we like 0:08:09.989,0:08:16.050 and we do, but those people sitting there say only what political censorship allows them to say. 0:08:16.050,0:08:21.855 They can’t speak words like “punk prayer” or "Virgin Mary, Banish Putin!” 0:08:21.855,0:08:29.424 They can’t say the lines from our punk prayer that have to do with the political system. 0:08:29.424,0:08:34.301 Perhaps they think it wouldn’t be a bad thing to send us to jail 0:08:34.301,0:08:36.808 because we are rising up against Putin and his system as well 0:08:36.808,0:08:39.850 but they can’t say so because that’s not allowed either. 0:08:39.850,0:08:43.147 Their mouths are sewn shut. Unfortunately, they are mere puppets. 0:08:43.147,0:08:50.067 I hope they realize this and also take the road to freedom, truth and sincerity 0:08:50.067,0:08:59.448 because these are superior to stasis, contrived decency and hypocrisy. 0:08:59.448,0:09:06.414 Stasis and the search for truth are always in opposition to one another 0:09:06.414,0:09:09.200 and in this case, at this trial, 0:09:09.200,0:09:12.056 we can see people who are trying to find the truth 0:09:12.056,0:09:16.816 and people who are trying to enslave those who want to find the truth. 0:09:16.816,0:09:22.250 Humans are beings who always make mistakes. 0:09:22.250,0:09:24.990 They are not perfect. 0:09:24.990,0:09:28.078 They strive for wisdom but never actually have it. 0:09:28.078,0:09:31.097 That’s precisely why philosophy came into being, 0:09:31.097,0:09:35.044 precisely because philosophers are people who love wisdom and strive for it, 0:09:35.044,0:09:37.947 but never actually possesses it 0:09:37.947,0:09:42.660 and it is what drives them to act and to think 0:09:42.660,0:09:45.145 and, ultimately, to live the way they do. 0:09:45.145,0:09:49.301 This is what made us go into the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, 0:09:49.301,0:10:01.166 and I think that Christianity, as I’ve understood it from studying the Old and New Testaments, 0:10:01.166,0:10:07.297 supports the search for truth and a constant overcoming of the self, 0:10:07.297,0:10:11.708 overcoming what you used to be. 0:10:11.708,0:10:17.328 Christ didn’t associate with prostitutes for nothing. 0:10:17.328,0:10:23.504 He said, ‘I help those who have gone astray and forgive them’ 0:10:23.504,0:10:29.611 but for some reason I can’t see any of that at our trial, 0:10:29.611,0:10:32.258 which is taking place under the banner of Christianity. 0:10:32.258,0:10:38.063 I think the prosecutor is defying Christianity. 0:10:38.063,0:10:43.613 The lawyer wants nothing to do with the injured parties. 0:10:43.613,0:10:47.142 Here’s how I understand this: 0:10:47.142,0:10:50.137 Two days ago, Lawyer Taratukhin made a speech 0:10:50.137,0:11:00.447 in which he wanted everyone to understand that he had no sympathy with the people he is representing. 0:11:00.447,0:11:05.068 This means he’s not ethically comfortable representing 0:11:05.068,0:11:09.247 people who want to send the three members of Pussy Riot to jail. 0:11:09.247,0:11:12.011 Why they want to do this, I don’t know. 0:11:12.011,0:11:14.425 Perhaps it is their right. 0:11:14.425,0:11:19.464 The lawyer was embarrassed 0:11:19.464,0:11:24.944 the shouts of “Shame! Executioners!” had got to him 0:11:24.944,0:11:34.836 which goes to show that truth and goodness always triumph over lies and evil. 0:11:34.836,0:11:44.983 I think some higher powers are guiding the speeches of the lawyers for the other side 0:11:44.983,0:11:48.954 when, time after time, they make mistakes in what they say 0:11:48.954,0:11:52.994 and call us the “injured parties”. 0:11:52.994,0:11:56.128 Almost all the lawyers are doing it, 0:11:56.128,0:11:59.101 including Lawyer Pavlova who is very negatively disposed towards us. 0:11:59.101,0:12:01.980 Nevertheless, some higher powers are causing her 0:12:01.980,0:12:07.947 to say "the injured parties" about us rather than the people she’s defending, us. 0:12:07.947,0:12:10.432 I wouldn’t give people labels. 0:12:10.432,0:12:13.427 I don’t think there are winners or losers here, 0:12:13.427,0:12:15.842 injured parties or accused. 0:12:15.842,0:12:17.932 We just need to make contact, 0:12:17.932,0:12:20.208 to establish a dialogue and a joint search for truth, 0:12:20.208,0:12:22.739 to seek wisdom together, 0:12:22.739,0:12:24.828 to be philosophers together, 0:12:24.828,0:12:30.076 rather than stigmatizing and labelling people. 0:12:30.076,0:12:33.141 This is one of the worst things people can do 0:12:33.141,0:12:40.177 and Christ condemned it. 0:12:40.177,0:12:47.607 We have been subjected to abuse during this trial. 0:12:47.607,0:12:52.251 Who would have thought that a person and the state system he controls 0:12:52.251,0:12:56.361 would be repeatedly capable of entirely wanton evil? 0:12:56.361,0:13:01.864 Who would have thought that history and particularly Stalin’s Great Terror 0:13:01.864,0:13:05.208 not so very long ago, would not be taught at all? 0:13:05.208,0:13:09.248 It makes you want to weep to see how the methods of the medieval inquisition are brought out 0:13:09.248,0:13:15.332 by the law-enforcement and judicial system of the Russian Federation, which is our country. 0:13:15.332,0:13:18.583 Since the time of our arrest, however, we are no longer able to weep. 0:13:18.583,0:13:20.579 We’ve forgotten how to cry. 0:13:20.579,0:13:23.923 At our punk concerts we used to shout as best we could 0:13:23.923,0:13:32.236 about the iniquities of the authorities and now we’ve been robbed of our voice. 0:13:32.236,0:13:37.344 This whole trial refuses to hear us 0:13:37.344,0:13:39.527 and I mean hear us 0:13:39.527,0:13:43.405 which involves understanding and, moreover, thinking. 0:13:43.405,0:13:46.470 I think every individual wants to attain wisdom, to be a philosopher 0:13:46.470,0:13:49.186 not just people who happen to have studied philosophy. 0:13:49.186,0:13:55.967 That’s nothing. 0:13:55.967,0:13:58.382 Formal education is nothing in itself 0:13:58.382,0:14:03.931 and Lawyer Pavlova is constantly accusing us of not being sufficiently well-educated. 0:14:03.931,0:14:06.718 I think though that the most important thing 0:14:06.718,0:14:11.269 is the desire to know and to understand, 0:14:11.269,0:14:14.705 and that’s something people can do for themselves 0:14:14.705,0:14:17.306 outside of educational establishments, 0:14:17.306,0:14:21.323 and the trappings of academic degrees don’t mean anything in this instance. 0:14:21.323,0:14:28.405 Someone can have a vast fund of knowledge 0:14:28.405,0:14:32.538 and for all that not be human. 0:14:32.538,0:14:39.434 Pythagoras said: ‘the learning of many things does not teach understanding’. 0:14:39.434,0:14:43.986 Unfortunately, that’s something we are forced to observe here. 0:14:43.986,0:14:49.280 It’s just a stage setting and bits of the natural world, 0:14:49.280,0:14:51.369 bodies brought into the courtroom. 0:14:51.369,0:14:54.156 If, after many days of asking, talking and doing battle 0:14:54.156,0:14:56.640 our petitions are examined, they are inevitably rejected. 0:14:56.640,0:14:59.195 The court, on the other hand 0:14:59.195,0:15:01.331 unfortunately for us and for our country 0:15:01.331,0:15:05.650 listens to the prosecutor who repeatedly distorts our comments and statements with impunity 0:15:05.650,0:15:07.949 in a bid to neutralize them. 0:15:07.949,0:15:12.569 There is no attempt to conceal this breach in an adversarial system. 0:15:12.569,0:15:14.984 It even appears to be for show. 0:15:14.984,0:15:17.144 On 30th July, the first day of the trial, 0:15:17.144,0:15:20.500 we presented our response to the accusations. 0:15:20.500,0:15:23.642 The document we wrote was read by defence lawyer Volkov 0:15:23.642,0:15:28.333 because the court categorically refused to let the defendants speak. 0:15:28.333,0:15:33.846 It was the first time in five months of imprisonment that we could communicate 0:15:33.846,0:15:38.192 Prior to that we were in prison, in confinement. 0:15:38.192,0:15:41.276 We can’t do anything there. 0:15:41.276,0:15:44.040 We can’t make statements. We can’t make films. 0:15:44.040,0:15:46.036 We don’t have the internet in there. 0:15:46.036,0:15:49.171 We can’t even give our lawyer a bit of paper because that’s banned too. 0:15:49.171,0:15:52.580 Our first chance to speak came on 30th July. 0:15:52.580,0:15:55.766 We called for contact and dialogue 0:15:55.766,0:15:58.088 rather than conflict and opposition. 0:15:58.088,0:16:00.247 We reached out a hand to those 0:16:00.247,0:16:02.407 who, for some reason, assume we are their enemies. 0:16:02.407,0:16:04.845 In response they laughed at us 0:16:04.845,0:16:07.236 and spat in our outstretched hands. 0:16:07.236,0:16:09.651 You’re disingenuous, they told us. 0:16:09.651,0:16:13.157 But they needn’t have bothered. 0:16:13.157,0:16:16.083 Don’t judge others by your own standards. 0:16:16.083,0:16:19.589 We were always sincere in what we said, 0:16:19.589,0:16:22.144 saying exactly what we thought, 0:16:22.144,0:16:24.535 out of childish naïvety, 0:16:24.535,0:16:27.159 sure, but we don’t regret anything we said, 0:16:27.159,0:16:29.156 even on that day. 0:16:29.156,0:16:31.826 We are reviled but we do not intend to speak evil in return. 0:16:31.826,0:16:35.054 We are in desperate straits but do not despair. 0:16:35.054,0:16:37.608 We are persecuted but not forsaken. 0:16:37.608,0:16:39.221 It’s easy to humiliate and crush people who are open, 0:16:39.221,0:16:41.311 but when I am weak, then I am strong. 0:16:41.311,0:16:43.563 Listen to us rather than to Arkady Mamontov talking about us. 0:16:43.563,0:16:46.001 Don’t twist and distort everything we say. 0:16:46.001,0:16:48.184 Let us enter into dialogue and contact with the country, 0:16:48.184,0:16:51.806 which is ours too, not just Putin’s and the Patriarch’s. 0:16:51.806,0:16:58.494 Like Solzhenitsyn, I believe that in the end, words will crush concrete. 0:16:58.494,0:17:05.785 Solzhenitsyn wrote, “the word is more sincere than concrete, so words are not trifles. 0:17:05.785,0:17:11.567 Once noble people mobilize, their words will crush concrete.” 0:17:11.567,0:17:14.794 Katya, Masha and I are in jail 0:17:14.794,0:17:19.229 but I don’t consider that we’ve been defeated. 0:17:19.229,0:17:21.505 Just as the dissidents weren’t defeated. 0:17:21.505,0:17:24.570 When they disappeared into psychiatric hospitals and prisons, 0:17:24.570,0:17:28.982 they passed judgement on the country. 0:17:28.982,0:17:32.836 The era’s art of creating an image knew no winners or losers. 0:17:32.836,0:17:38.850 The Oberiu poets remained artists to the very end, 0:17:38.850,0:17:43.540 something impossible to explain or understand 0:17:43.540,0:17:48.161 since they were purged in 1937. 0:17:48.161,0:17:53.827 Vvedensky wrote: "We like what can’t be understood, What can’t be explained is our friend." 0:17:53.827,0:18:00.305 According to the official report, Aleksandr Vvedensky died on 20 December 1941. 0:18:00.305,0:18:02.813 We don’t know the cause, 0:18:02.813,0:18:05.762 whether it was dysentery in the train after his arrest 0:18:05.762,0:18:08.061 or a bullet from a guard. 0:18:08.061,0:18:10.568 It was somewhere on the railway line between Voronezh and Kazan. 0:18:10.568,0:18:13.587 Pussy Riot are Vvedensky’s disciples and his heirs. 0:18:13.587,0:18:16.257 His principle of ‘bad rhythm’ is our own. 0:18:16.257,0:18:19.531 He wrote: "It happens that two rhythms will come into your head," 0:18:19.531,0:18:21.923 a good one and a bad one and I choose the bad one. 0:18:21.923,0:18:24.756 It will be the right one. 0:18:24.756,0:18:27.055 What can’t be explained is our friend. 0:18:27.055,0:18:29.864 The elitist, sophisticated occupations of the Oberiu poets, 0:18:29.864,0:18:32.163 their search for meaning on the edge of sense 0:18:32.163,0:18:34.880 was ultimately realized at the cost of their lives, 0:18:34.880,0:18:39.222 swept away in the senseless Great Terror 0:18:39.222,0:18:41.846 something impossible to explain. 0:18:41.846,0:18:45.515 At the cost of their own lives 0:18:45.515,0:18:48.696 the Oberiu poets unintentionally demonstrated 0:18:48.696,0:18:50.484 that the feeling of meaninglessness and analogy, 0:18:50.484,0:18:52.922 like a pain in the backside, was correct, 0:18:52.922,0:18:55.267 but at the same time led art into the realm of history. 0:18:55.267,0:18:57.310 The cost of taking part in creating history 0:18:57.310,0:18:59.864 is always staggeringly high for people. 0:18:59.864,0:19:05.995 But that taking part is the very spice of human life. 0:19:05.995,0:19:08.874 Being poor while bestowing riches on many, 0:19:08.874,0:19:11.382 having nothing but possessing everything. 0:19:11.382,0:19:14.121 It is believed that the OBERIU dissidents are dead, 0:19:14.121,0:19:16.699 but they live on. 0:19:16.699,0:19:19.230 They are persecuted but they do not die. 0:19:19.230,0:19:23.363 Do you remember why the young Dostoyevsky was given the death sentence? 0:19:23.363,0:19:27.659 All he had done was to spend all his time with Socialists 0:19:27.659,0:19:31.049 and at the Friday meetings of a friendly circle of free thinkers at Petrushevsky’s 0:19:31.049,0:19:36.142 he became acquainted with Charles Fourier and George Sand. 0:19:36.142,0:19:40.778 At one of the last meetings, he read out Gogol’s letter to Belinsky, 0:19:40.778,0:19:43.773 which was packed, according to the court, 0:19:43.773,0:19:51.691 and I note, with childish expressions against the Orthodox Church and the supreme authorities. 0:19:51.691,0:19:57.264 After all his preparations for the death penalty 0:19:57.264,0:20:01.560 and ten dreadful, as he put it, "impossibly frightening minutes waiting to die" 0:20:01.560,0:20:03.998 the announcement came that his sentence had been commuted 0:20:03.998,0:20:09.037 to four years hard labour followed by military service. 0:20:09.037,0:20:12.357 Socrates was accused of corrupting youth 0:20:12.357,0:20:14.517 through his philosophical discourses 0:20:14.517,0:20:17.535 and of not recognizing the gods of Athens. 0:20:17.535,0:20:21.250 Socrates had a connection to a divine inner voice 0:20:21.250,0:20:24.733 and was by no means a theomachist, 0:20:24.733,0:20:27.195 something he often said himself. 0:20:27.195,0:20:30.283 What did that matter, however, when he had angered the city 0:20:30.283,0:20:35.585 with his critical, dialectical and unprejudiced thinking? 0:20:35.585,0:20:43.820 Socrates was sentenced to death and, refusing to run away 0:20:43.820,0:20:46.444 although he was given that option, 0:20:46.444,0:20:53.328 he drank down a cup of poison in cold blood, hemlock. 0:20:53.328,0:20:56.127 Have you forgotten the circumstances under which 0:20:56.127,0:21:02.721 Stephen, follower of the Apostles, ended his earthly life? 0:21:02.721,0:21:05.554 "Then they secretly induced men to say: 0:21:05.554,0:21:08.573 'We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.' 0:21:08.573,0:21:11.266 And they stirred up the people, the elders and the scribes, 0:21:11.266,0:21:15.771 and they came upon him and dragged him away, and brought him before the Council. 0:21:15.771,0:21:18.232 And they put forward false witnesses who said 0:21:18.232,0:21:21.645 'This man incessantly speaks against this holy place, and the Law.' " 0:21:21.645,0:21:25.918 He was found guilty and stoned to death. 0:21:25.918,0:21:29.331 And I hope everyone remembers what the Jews said to Jesus: 0:21:29.331,0:21:33.534 We're stoning you not for any good work, but for blasphemy. 0:21:33.534,0:21:37.412 And finally it would be well worth remembering this description of Christ: 0:21:37.412,0:21:42.334 He is possessed of a demon and out of his mind. 0:21:42.334,0:21:49.974 I believe that if leaders, tsars, elders, presidents and prime ministers, the people and the judges 0:21:49.974,0:21:53.991 really understood what "I desire mercy not sacrifice" meant, 0:21:53.991,0:21:56.893 they would not condemn the innocent. 0:21:56.893,0:22:02.280 Our leaders are currently in a hurry only to condemn 0:22:02.280,0:22:05.020 and not at all to show mercy. 0:22:05.020,0:22:08.805 Incidentally, we thank Dmitry Medvedev for his latest wonderful aphorism. 0:22:08.805,0:22:13.565 If Medvedev gave his presidency the slogan: "Freedom is better than non-freedom" 0:22:13.565,0:22:16.305 then, thanks to Medvedev’s felicitous saying, 0:22:16.305,0:22:21.808 Putin’s third term has a good chance of being known by a new aphorism: 0:22:21.808,0:22:27.451 Prison is better than stoning 0:22:27.451,0:22:30.795 I would like you to think carefully 0:22:30.795,0:22:34.719 about the following reflection by Montaigne 0:22:34.719,0:22:37.273 from his Essays written in the 16th century. 0:22:37.273,0:22:43.798 He wrote: "You are holding your opinions in too high a regard if you burn people alive for them." 0:22:43.798,0:22:47.397 Is it worth accusing people and putting them in jail 0:22:47.397,0:22:52.110 on the basis of totally unfounded conjectures by the prosecution? 0:22:52.110,0:22:55.338 Since in actual fact we never were, 0:22:55.338,0:22:59.471 and are not, motivated by religious hatred and hostility, 0:22:59.471,0:23:01.654 there is nothing left for our accusers 0:23:01.654,0:23:04.045 other than to draw on the aid of false witnesses. 0:23:04.045,0:23:06.484 One of them, Motilda Ivashchenko, 0:23:06.484,0:23:08.968 was ashamed and didn’t show up in court. 0:23:08.968,0:23:11.290 That left the false witness of the expert examination 0:23:11.290,0:23:13.426 by [Vsevolod] Troitsky, [Igor] Ponkin and Mrs [Vera] Abramenkova. 0:23:13.426,0:23:16.050 And there is no evidence of any hatred or enmity on our part 0:23:16.050,0:23:18.535 other than this expert examination. 0:23:18.535,0:23:21.135 For this reason, if it is honourable and just, 0:23:21.135,0:23:24.572 the court must rule the evidence inadmissible 0:23:24.572,0:23:27.103 because it is not a strictly scientific or objective text 0:23:27.103,0:23:30.493 but a filthy, lying bit of paper 0:23:30.493,0:23:34.974 from the medieval days of the inquisition. 0:23:34.974,0:23:39.108 There is no other evidence that remotely hints at a motive. 0:23:39.108,0:23:42.614 The prosecution is reluctant to produce excerpts from the text of Pussy Riot interviews 0:23:42.614,0:23:48.744 because they are primary evidence of this lack of motive. 0:23:48.744,0:23:52.622 For the umpteenth time, I will quote this excerpt. 0:23:52.622,0:23:57.010 I think it’s important. It was from an interview with Russky Reporter 0:23:57.010,0:24:01.213 given the day after the concert at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour 0:24:01.213,0:24:05.207 Our attitude toward religion, and toward Orthodoxy in particular 0:24:05.207,0:24:08.225 is one of respect, and for this very reason we are distressed 0:24:08.225,0:24:10.896 that the great and luminous Christian philosophy is being used so shabbily. 0:24:10.896,0:24:16.376 We are very angry that something beautiful is being spoiled. 0:24:16.376,0:24:23.597 It still makes us angry and we find it very painful to watch. 0:24:23.597,0:24:29.541 The lack on our part of any show of hatred or enmity 0:24:29.541,0:24:33.814 has been attested by all the witnesses examined by the defence. 0:24:33.814,0:24:36.995 And by the evidence of our characters. 0:24:36.995,0:24:39.758 In addition to all the other character statements, 0:24:39.758,0:24:44.495 I’d like you to consider the findings of the psychiatric and psychological tests 0:24:44.495,0:24:46.724 which the investigator ordered me to undergo in detention. 0:24:46.724,0:24:48.814 The expert’s findings were as follows: 0:24:48.814,0:24:51.484 the values to which I am committed in my life are 0:24:51.484,0:24:56.944 justice, mutual respect, humanity, equality and freedom. 0:24:56.944,0:25:03.373 That’s what the expert said, someone who doesn’t know me 0:25:03.373,0:25:06.227 and Investigator Ranchenko would probably 0:25:06.227,0:25:10.755 have very much liked him to write something different. 0:25:10.755,0:25:18.442 It would appear, however, that there are more people who live and value the truth 0:25:18.442,0:25:23.224 and the Bible’s right about that. 0:25:23.224,0:25:30.701 Finally, I’d like to quote a Pussy Riot song 0:25:30.701,0:25:33.789 because, strange as it may seem 0:25:33.789,0:25:36.482 all our songs have turned out to be prophetic 0:25:36.482,0:25:38.758 including the one that says: 0:25:38.758,0:25:43.959 The KGB chief, their number one saint, will escort protestors off to jail – that’s us. 0:25:43.959,0:25:48.975 What I’d like to quote now, however, is the next line: 0:25:48.975,0:25:56.528 Open the doors, off with the shoulder-straps, join us in a taste of freedom. 0:25:56.528,0:25:59.454 That's it. 0:25:59.454,9:59:59.000 [Applause]