0:01 - 0:05 By and large the current process is not about

0:05 - 0:09 the three singers in the group Pussy Riot

0:09 - 0:14 if that was the case then the proceedings here would be irrelevant

0:14 - 0:19 This process concerns the entire state system of the Russian Federation

0:19 - 0:25 which, to its own detriment, takes such pleasure in inflicting cruelty on people

0:25 - 0:28 and indifference to human respect and dignity.

0:28 - 0:31 Worst of all, this has all been seen before in Russian history.

0:31 - 0:35 The simulation of a court process comes close to the standards of Stalin's "troikas" [extrajudicial panels]

0:35 - 0:37 to my deep regret

0:37 - 0:40 besides the political orders for repression from the top

0:40 - 0:48 were the defining words, actions, and decisions of all three judges.

0:48 - 0:52 Who is guilty for what happened during

0:52 - 0:54 the performance at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour

0:54 - 0:57 and the trial which followed our concert?

0:57 - 1:00 The authoritarian political system is guilty.

1:00 - 1:03 That which Pussy Riot does, is opposition art

1:03 - 1:08 or even politics, taking on forms developed by art.

1:08 - 1:10 In any case it is the kind of civil activity

1:10 - 1:14 under conditions of pressure from a corporate state system

1:14 - 1:17 on basic human rights

1:17 - 1:19 on civil and political freedoms.

1:19 - 1:26 Many people, who have been methodically robbed of their freedoms

1:26 - 1:30 are now rebelling.

1:30 - 1:32 We are looking for sincerity and simplicity

1:32 - 1:35 and we found both in our punk performances.

1:35 - 1:46 Passion, sincerity, and naivety are above hypocrisy, deceit, feigned modesty, and hiding your crime.

1:46 - 1:51 The country's top brass stand in cathedral with righteous faces

1:51 - 1:54 but they are sly, their sins are far greater than ours.

1:54 - 1:58 We do our political punk concerts because

1:58 - 2:00 the Russian state system is ruled by such

2:00 - 2:03 stiffness, opacity, and class

2:03 - 2:07 and policies are subject only to narrow corporate interests

2:07 - 2:11 so much so that Russian air makes us ill.

2:11 - 2:15 Against our wishes, we are made to act and live

2:15 - 2:21 with the politically coercive and violent techniques

2:21 - 2:23 to control social processes.

2:23 - 2:26 The situation, when the most important political institutions

2:26 - 2:28 are the state's disciplinary structures,

2:28 - 2:33 law enforcement, the army, the police, the security services

2:33 - 2:35 and the corresponding means for achieving political stability involve

2:35 - 2:41 prisons, preventive detention, mechanisms of strict control over the behaviour of citizens.

2:41 - 2:47 We also do not like the forced passivity of most of the civilian population

2:47 - 2:51 and also the complete domination of executive branch

2:51 - 2:54 over the legislature and judiciary.

2:54 - 2:56 In addition, we are sincerely annoyed

2:56 - 2:59 at the scandalously low level of political culture, built on fear

2:59 - 3:03 a level which consciously supports the state system and its cronies.

3:05 - 3:07 Just look at what Patriarch Kirill says

3:07 - 3:09 that Orthodox believers do not attend the demonstrations.

3:09 - 3:11 We are annoyed by the scandalous weakness

3:11 - 3:14 of community connections within society.

3:14 - 3:18 We do not like the state's manipulation of public opinion

3:18 - 3:23 easily carried out thanks to tight control over most media

3:23 - 3:26 by state agencies, and for example,

3:26 - 3:32 the exceptionally arrogant and base distortion of facts and words in the campaign against Pussy Riot,

3:32 - 3:35 launched in almost all Russian media,

3:35 - 3:39 except for independent ones, a rarity in this political system.

3:39 - 3:46 Nonetheless I now state that

3:46 - 3:51 even though this situation is authoritarian

3:51 - 3:55 and even though the political system is authoritarian

3:55 - 4:02 I still see the collapse of this political system

4:02 - 4:06 in its response to the three members of Pussy Riot

4:06 - 4:10 because that which the system depends on, was wrong.

4:10 - 4:19 Unfortunately for the system, Russia as a whole does not condemn us

4:19 - 4:22 and with every day more and more people believe us and believe in us

4:22 - 4:25 and think we should be free rather than behind bars.

4:25 - 4:27 I can see this from people I meet.

4:27 - 4:35 I meet people who represent the system, who work for the relevant agencies.

4:35 - 4:42 And every day there are more and more people who wish us well

4:42 - 4:48 who hope for our success and especially for our release

4:48 - 4:51 who say our political act was justified

4:51 - 4:52 More and more, people tell us

4:52 - 4:59 "At first, we weren't sure you could have done this"

4:59 - 5:04 but every day there are more and more people who say

5:04 - 5:10 "Time is proving to us that your political gesture was correct."

5:10 - 5:20 "You have exposed the cancer in this political system and dealt a blow to a nest of vipers, which then turned on you."

5:20 - 5:26 These people are trying to make life easier for us in whatever way they can

5:26 - 5:29 and we are very grateful to them for that

5:29 - 5:33 We are grateful to all those who, free themselves, speak out in our support.

5:33 - 5:35 There are a vast number, I know.

5:35 - 5:40 I know that a huge number of Orthodox people are standing up for us.

5:40 - 5:42 They are praying for us outside the courtroom

5:42 - 5:48 for the members of Pussy Riot who are incarcerated.

5:48 - 5:52 We’ve seen the booklets Orthodox people are handing out

5:52 - 5:58 with prayers for those in prison

5:58 - 6:07 This shows that there isn’t a unified social group of Orthodox believers

6:07 - 6:10 as the prosecution is claiming.

6:10 - 6:12 No such thing exists.

6:12 - 6:15 More and more believers are starting to defend Pussy Riot.

6:15 - 6:25 They don’t think what we did deserves even five months in detention

6:25 - 6:29 much less the three years in prison the prosecutor would like.

6:29 - 6:34 And every day, more and more people realize

6:34 - 6:40 that if this political system has ganged up to this extent against three girls

6:40 - 6:43 for a 30-second performance in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour

6:43 - 6:47 it means the system is afraid of the truth

6:47 - 6:49 and afraid of our sincerity and directness

6:49 - 6:54 We haven’t dissembled, not for a second

6:54 - 6:59 not for a minute during this trial

6:59 - 7:03 but the other side is dissembling too much and people can sense it.

7:03 - 7:06 People can sense the truth.

7:06 - 7:10 Truth really does have some kind of ontological, existential superiority over lies

7:10 - 7:15 and this is written in the Bible, in the Old Testament in particular.

7:15 - 7:22 In the end, the ways of truth always triumph over the ways of wickedness, guile and lies.

7:22 - 7:26 And with each day that passes,

7:26 - 7:29 the ways of truth are more and more triumphant

7:29 - 7:32 even though we are still behind bars

7:32 - 7:35 and are likely to be here a lot longer yet.

7:35 - 7:40 Madonna performed yesterday [7 August].

7:40 - 7:46 She appeared with Pussy Riot written on her back.

7:46 - 7:50 More and more people can see

7:50 - 7:54 that we are being held here unlawfully and on a completely false charge

7:54 - 7:57 I’m overwhelmed by this

7:57 - 8:01 I am overwhelmed that truth really does triumph over lies

8:01 - 8:04 even though physically we are here in a cage.

8:04 - 8:08 We are freer than the people sitting opposite us

8:08 - 8:11 for the prosecution because we can say everything we like

8:11 - 8:16 and we do, but those people sitting there say only what political censorship allows them to say.

8:16 - 8:22 They can’t speak words like “punk prayer” or "Virgin Mary, Banish Putin!”

8:22 - 8:30 They can’t say the lines from our punk prayer that have to do with the political system.

8:30 - 8:34 Perhaps they think it wouldn’t be a bad thing to send us to jail

8:34 - 8:37 because we are rising up against Putin and his system as well

8:37 - 8:40 but they can’t say so because that’s not allowed either.

8:40 - 8:43 Their mouths are sewn shut. Unfortunately, they are mere puppets.

8:43 - 8:52 I hope they realize this and also take the road to freedom, truth and sincerity

8:52 - 8:57 because these are superior to stasis, contrived decency and hypocrisy.

8:57 - 9:07 Stasis and the search for truth are always in opposition to one another

9:07 - 9:11 and in this case, at this trial,

9:11 - 9:15 we can see people who are trying to find the truth

9:15 - 9:20 and people who are trying to enslave those who want to find the truth.

Not Synced Humans are beings who always make mistakes.

Not Synced They are not perfect.

Not Synced They strive for wisdom but never actually have it.

Not Synced That’s precisely why philosophy came into being,

Not Synced precisely because philosophers are people who love wisdom and strive for it,

Not Synced but never actually possesses it

Not Synced and it is what drives them to act and to think

Not Synced and, ultimately, to live the way they do.

Not Synced This is what made us go into the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour,

Not Synced and I think that Christianity, as I’ve understood it from studying the Old and New Testaments,

Not Synced supports the search for truth and a constant overcoming of the self,

Not Synced overcoming what you used to be.

Not Synced Christ didn’t associate with prostitutes for nothing.

Not Synced He said, ‘I help those who have gone astray and forgive them’

Not Synced but for some reason I can’t see any of that at our trial,

Not Synced which is taking place under the banner of Christianity.

Not Synced I think the prosecutor is defying Christianity.

Not Synced The lawyer wants nothing to do with the injured parties.

Not Synced Here’s how I understand this:

Not Synced Two days ago, Lawyer Taratukhin made a speech

Not Synced in which he wanted everyone to understand that he had no sympathy with the people he is representing.

Not Synced This means he’s not ethically comfortable representing

Not Synced people who want to send the three members of Pussy Riot to jail.

Not Synced Why they want to do this, I don’t know.

Not Synced Perhaps it is their right.

Not Synced The lawyer was embarrassed

Not Synced the shouts of “Shame! Executioners!” had got to him

Not Synced which goes to show that truth and goodness always triumph over lies and evil.

Not Synced I think some higher powers are guiding the speeches of the lawyers for the other side

Not Synced when, time after time, they make mistakes in what they say

Not Synced and call us the “injured parties”.

Not Synced Almost all the lawyers are doing it,

Not Synced including Lawyer Pavlova who is very negatively disposed towards us.

Not Synced Nevertheless, some higher powers are causing her

Not Synced to say "the injured parties" about us rather than the people she’s defending, us.

Not Synced I wouldn’t give people labels.

Not Synced I don’t think there are winners or losers here,

Not Synced injured parties or accused.

Not Synced We just need to make contact,

Not Synced to establish a dialogue and a joint search for truth,

Not Synced to seek wisdom together,

Not Synced to be philosophers together,

Not Synced rather than stigmatizing and labelling people.

Not Synced This is one of the worst things people can do

Not Synced and Christ condemned it.

Not Synced We have been subjected to abuse during this trial.

Not Synced Who would have thought that a person and the state system he controls

Not Synced would be repeatedly capable of entirely wanton evil?

Not Synced Who would have thought that history and particularly Stalin’s Great Terror

Not Synced not so very long ago, would not be taught at all?

Not Synced It makes you want to weep to see how the methods of the medieval inquisition are brought out

Not Synced by the law-enforcement and judicial system of the Russian Federation, which is our country.

Not Synced Since the time of our arrest, however, we are no longer able to weep.

Not Synced We’ve forgotten how to cry.

Not Synced At our punk concerts we used to shout as best we could

Not Synced about the iniquities of the authorities and now we’ve been robbed of our voice.

Not Synced This whole trial refuses to hear us

Not Synced and I mean hear us

Not Synced which involves understanding and, moreover, thinking.

Not Synced I think every individual wants to attain wisdom, to be a philosopher

Not Synced not just people who happen to have studied philosophy.

Not Synced That’s nothing.

Not Synced Formal education is nothing in itself

Not Synced and Lawyer Pavlova is constantly accusing us of not being sufficiently well-educated.

Not Synced I think though that the most important thing

Not Synced is the desire to know and to understand,

Not Synced and that’s something people can do for themselves

Not Synced outside of educational establishments,

Not Synced and the trappings of academic degrees don’t mean anything in this instance.

Not Synced Someone can have a vast fund of knowledge

Not Synced and for all that not be human.

Not Synced Pythagoras said: ‘the learning of many things does not teach understanding’.

Not Synced Unfortunately, that’s something we are forced to observe here.

Not Synced It’s just a stage setting and bits of the natural world,

Not Synced bodies brought into the courtroom.

Not Synced If, after many days of asking, talking and doing battle

Not Synced our petitions are examined, they are inevitably rejected.

Not Synced The court, on the other hand

Not Synced unfortunately for us and for our country

Not Synced listens to the prosecutor who repeatedly distorts our comments and statements with impunity

Not Synced in a bid to neutralize them.

Not Synced There is no attempt to conceal this breach in an adversarial system.

Not Synced It even appears to be for show.

Not Synced On 30th July, the first day of the trial,

Not Synced we presented our response to the accusations.

Not Synced Prior to that we were in prison, in confinement.

Not Synced We can’t do anything there.

Not Synced We can’t make statements. We can’t make films.

Not Synced We don’t have the internet in there.

Not Synced We can’t even give our lawyer a bit of paper because that’s banned too.

Not Synced Our first chance to speak came on 30th July.

Not Synced The document we wrote was read by defence lawyer Volkov

Not Synced because the court refused to let the defendants speak.

Not Synced We called for contact and dialogue

Not Synced rather than conflict and opposition.

Not Synced We reached out a hand to those

Not Synced who, for some reason, assume we are their enemies.

Not Synced In response they laughed at us

Not Synced and spat in our outstretched hands.

Not Synced "You’re disingenuous," they told us.

Not Synced But they needn’t have bothered.

Not Synced Don’t judge others by your own standards.

Not Synced We were always sincere in what we said,