… I hope very much that people won’t look at this trial as a signal that they should be more afraid. This isn’t a demonstration of strength — it’s a show of weakness. You can’t lock up millions and hundreds of thousands of people. I hope very much that people will realize this. And they will. Because you can’t lock up the whole country.
The only thing growing in [Russia] is the number of billionaires. Everything else is declining. I’m locked up in a prison cell and all I hear about on TV is that butter is getting more expensive. The price of eggs is rising. You’ve deprived these people of a future.
Everything I’m saying now reflects my attitude toward the performance you’ve staged here. This is what happened when lawlessness and tyranny become the essence of a political system, and it’s horrifying. But it’s even worse when lawlessness and tyranny pose as state prosecutors and dress up in judges’ robes. It’s the duty of every person to defy you and to defy such laws.
I am fighting as best I can and I will continue to do so, despite the fact that I’m now under the control of people who love to smear everything with chemical weapons. My life isn’t worth two cents, but I will do everything I can so that the law prevails. And I salute and thank the staff at the Anti-Corruption Foundation who have been arrested and all the honest people across the country who aren’t afraid and who take to the streets. Because they have the same rights as you. This country belongs to them just as it does to you and everyone else. We demand proper justice, decent treatment, participation in elections, and participation in the distribution of the national wealth. Yes, we demand all this.
I want to say that there are many good things in Russia now. The very best are the people who aren’t afraid — people who don’t look the other way, who will never hand our country over to a bunch of corrupt officials who want to trade it for palaces, vineyards, and aqua-discos.
I demand my immediate release and the release of all political prisoners. I do not recognize your performance here — it’s a deception and completely illegal.
https://meduza.io/en/feature/2021/02/02/vladimir-the-poisoner
***
The West still does not want to understand that Russia has always recognized only strength.
J.Š. 3.2.2021
Read more...