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By and large the current process is not about
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the three singers in the group Pussy Riot
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if that was the case then the proceedings here would be irrelevant
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This process concerns the entire state system of the Russian Federation
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which, to its own detriment, takes such pleasure in inflicting cruelty on people
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and indifference to human respect and dignity.
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Worst of all, this has all been seen before in Russian history.
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The simulation of a court process comes close to the standards of Stalin's "troikas" [extrajudicial panels]
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to my deep regret
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besides the political orders for repression from the top
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were the defining words, actions, and decisions of all three judges.
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Who is guilty for what happened during
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the performance at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour
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and the trial which followed our concert?
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The authoritarian political system is guilty.
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That which Pussy Riot does, is opposition art
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or even politics, taking on forms developed by art.
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In any case it is the kind of civil activity
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under conditions of pressure from a corporate state system
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on basic human rights
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on civil and political freedoms.
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Many people, who have been methodically robbed of their freedoms
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are now rebelling.
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We are looking for sincerity and simplicity
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and we found both in our punk performances.
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Passion, sincerity, and naivety are above hypocrisy, deceit, feigned modesty, and hiding your crime.
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The country's top brass stand in cathedral with righteous faces
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but they are sly, their sins are far greater than ours.
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We do our political punk concerts because
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the Russian state system is ruled by such
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stiffness, opacity, and class
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and policies are subject only to narrow corporate interests
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so much so that Russian air makes us ill.
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Against our wishes, we are made to act and live
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with the politically coercive and violent techniques
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to control social processes.
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The situation, when the most important political institutions
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are the state's disciplinary structures,
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law enforcement, the army, the police, the security services
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and the corresponding means for achieving political stability involve
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prisons, preventive detention, mechanisms of strict control over the behaviour of citizens.
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We also do not like the forced passivity of most of the civilian population
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and also the complete domination of executive branch
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over the legislature and judiciary.
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In addition, we are sincerely annoyed
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at the scandalously low level of political culture, built on fear
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a level which consciously supports the state system and its cronies.
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Just look at what Patriarch Kirill says
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that Orthodox believers do not attend the demonstrations.
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We are annoyed by the scandalous weakness
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of community connections within society.
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We do not like the state's manipulation of public opinion
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easily carried out thanks to tight control over most media
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by state agencies, and for example,
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the exceptionally arrogant and base distortion of facts and words in the campaign against Pussy Riot,
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launched in almost all Russian media,
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except for independent ones, a rarity in this political system.
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Nonetheless I now state that
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even though this situation is authoritarian
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and even though the political system is authoritarian
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I still see the collapse of this political system
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in its response to the three members of Pussy Riot
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because that which the system depends on, was wrong.
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Unfortunately for the system, Russia as a whole does not condemn us
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and with every day more and more people believe us and believe in us
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and think we should be free rather than behind bars.
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I can see this from people I meet.
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I meet people who represent the system, who work for the relevant agencies.
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And every day there are more and more people who wish us well
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who hope for our success and especially for our release
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who say our political act was justified
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More and more, people tell us
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"At first, we weren't sure you could have done this"
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but every day there are more and more people who say
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"Time is proving to us that your political gesture was correct."
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"You have exposed the cancer in this political system and dealt a blow to a nest of vipers, which then turned on you."
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These people are trying to make life easier for us in whatever way they can
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and we are very grateful to them for that
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We are grateful to all those who, free themselves, speak out in our support.
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There are a vast number, I know.
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I know that a huge number of Orthodox people are standing up for us.
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They are praying for us outside the courtroom
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for the members of Pussy Riot who are incarcerated.
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We’ve seen the booklets Orthodox people are handing out
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with prayers for those in prison
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This shows that there isn’t a unified social group of Orthodox believers
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as the prosecution is claiming.
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No such thing exists.
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More and more believers are starting to defend Pussy Riot.
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They don’t think what we did deserves even five months in detention
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much less the three years in prison the prosecutor would like.
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And every day, more and more people realize
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that if this political system has ganged up to this extent against three girls
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for a 30-second performance in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour
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it means the system is afraid of the truth
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and afraid of our sincerity and directness
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We haven’t dissembled, not for a second
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not for a minute during this trial
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but the other side is dissembling too much and people can sense it.
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People can sense the truth.
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Truth really does have some kind of ontological, existential superiority over lies
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and this is written in the Bible, in the Old Testament in particular.
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In the end, the ways of truth always triumph over the ways of wickedness, guile and lies.
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And with each day that passes,
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the ways of truth are more and more triumphant
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even though we are still behind bars
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and are likely to be here a lot longer yet.
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Madonna performed yesterday [7 August].
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She appeared with Pussy Riot written on her back.
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More and more people can see
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that we are being held here unlawfully and on a completely false charge
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I’m overwhelmed by this
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I am overwhelmed that truth really does triumph over lies
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even though physically we are here in a cage.
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We are freer than the people sitting opposite us
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for the prosecution because we can say everything we like
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and we do, but those people sitting there say only what political censorship allows them to say.
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They can’t speak words like “punk prayer” or "Virgin Mary, Banish Putin!”
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They can’t say the lines from our punk prayer that have to do with the political system.
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Perhaps they think it wouldn’t be a bad thing to send us to jail
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because we are rising up against Putin and his system as well
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but they can’t say so because that’s not allowed either.
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Their mouths are sewn shut. Unfortunately, they are mere puppets.
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I hope they realize this and also take the road to freedom, truth and sincerity
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because these are superior to stasis, contrived decency and hypocrisy.
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Stasis and the search for truth are always in opposition to one another
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and in this case, at this trial,
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we can see people who are trying to find the truth
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and people who are trying to enslave those who want to find the truth.
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Humans are beings who always make mistakes.
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They are not perfect.
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They strive for wisdom but never actually have it.
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That’s precisely why philosophy came into being,
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precisely because philosophers are people who love wisdom and strive for it,
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but never actually possesses it
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and it is what drives them to act and to think
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and, ultimately, to live the way they do.
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This is what made us go into the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour,
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and I think that Christianity, as I’ve understood it from studying the Old and New Testaments,
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supports the search for truth and a constant overcoming of the self,
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overcoming what you used to be.
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Christ didn’t associate with prostitutes for nothing.
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He said, ‘I help those who have gone astray and forgive them’
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but for some reason I can’t see any of that at our trial,
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which is taking place under the banner of Christianity.
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I think the prosecutor is defying Christianity.
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The lawyer wants nothing to do with the injured parties.
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Here’s how I understand this:
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Two days ago, Lawyer Taratukhin made a speech
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in which he wanted everyone to understand that he had no sympathy with the people he is representing.
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This means he’s not ethically comfortable representing
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people who want to send the three members of Pussy Riot to jail.
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Why they want to do this, I don’t know.
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Perhaps it is their right.
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The lawyer was embarrassed
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the shouts of “Shame! Executioners!” had got to him
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which goes to show that truth and goodness always triumph over lies and evil.
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I think some higher powers are guiding the speeches of the lawyers for the other side
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when, time after time, they make mistakes in what they say
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and call us the “injured parties”.
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Almost all the lawyers are doing it,
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including Lawyer Pavlova who is very negatively disposed towards us.
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Nevertheless, some higher powers are causing her
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to say "the injured parties" about us rather than the people she’s defending, us.
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I wouldn’t give people labels.
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I don’t think there are winners or losers here,
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injured parties or accused.
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We just need to make contact,
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to establish a dialogue and a joint search for truth,
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to seek wisdom together,
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to be philosophers together,
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rather than stigmatizing and labelling people.
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This is one of the worst things people can do
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and Christ condemned it.
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We have been subjected to abuse during this trial.
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Who would have thought that a person and the state system he controls
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would be repeatedly capable of entirely wanton evil?
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Who would have thought that history and particularly Stalin’s Great Terror
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not so very long ago, would not be taught at all?
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It makes you want to weep to see how the methods of the medieval inquisition are brought out
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by the law-enforcement and judicial system of the Russian Federation, which is our country.
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Since the time of our arrest, however, we are no longer able to weep.
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We’ve forgotten how to cry.
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At our punk concerts we used to shout as best we could
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about the iniquities of the authorities and now we’ve been robbed of our voice.
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This whole trial refuses to hear us
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and I mean hear us
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which involves understanding and, moreover, thinking.
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I think every individual wants to attain wisdom, to be a philosopher
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not just people who happen to have studied philosophy.
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That’s nothing.
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Formal education is nothing in itself
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and Lawyer Pavlova is constantly accusing us of not being sufficiently well-educated.
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I think though that the most important thing
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is the desire to know and to understand,
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and that’s something people can do for themselves
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outside of educational establishments,
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and the trappings of academic degrees don’t mean anything in this instance.
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Someone can have a vast fund of knowledge
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and for all that not be human.
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Pythagoras said: ‘the learning of many things does not teach understanding’.
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Unfortunately, that’s something we are forced to observe here.
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It’s just a stage setting and bits of the natural world,
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bodies brought into the courtroom.
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If, after many days of asking, talking and doing battle
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our petitions are examined, they are inevitably rejected.
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The court, on the other hand
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unfortunately for us and for our country
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listens to the prosecutor who repeatedly distorts our comments and statements with impunity
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in a bid to neutralize them.
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There is no attempt to conceal this breach in an adversarial system.
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It even appears to be for show.
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On 30th July, the first day of the trial,
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we presented our response to the accusations.
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Prior to that we were in prison, in confinement.
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We can’t do anything there.
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We can’t make statements. We can’t make films.
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We don’t have the internet in there.
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We can’t even give our lawyer a bit of paper because that’s banned too.
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Our first chance to speak came on 30th July.
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The document we wrote was read by defence lawyer Volkov
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because the court refused to let the defendants speak.
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We called for contact and dialogue
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rather than conflict and opposition.
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We reached out a hand to those
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who, for some reason, assume we are their enemies.
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In response they laughed at us
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and spat in our outstretched hands.
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"You’re disingenuous," they told us.
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But they needn’t have bothered.
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Don’t judge others by your own standards.
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We were always sincere in what we said,
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saying exactly what we thought,
