Among the 23 largely Russian ebooks we bought this week is Neposlednie slova – “Not the final words”, referring to the “final word” that a defendant in Russia has after judgement has been passed down in their trial.  While they have no impact on the defendant’s sentence, the fact and content of these final words, or final statements, are significant, as the following text explains:

“In recent years and, particularly, in recent months in Russia, a distinct oral/literary genre has re-emerged — the “final statement” of a defendant.   Paradoxically, the “cage” in a court room (in today’s Russia, the accused are put in a bullet-proof glass booth) appears as the only remaining place where a person can still speak freely. Thus, it can be said, without exaggeration, that the courtroom, where people are tried for dissent, is a last bastion of freedom of speech in today’s Russia.” [from the blurb for a lecture by Anna Narinskaya at the Harriman Institute in April this year] Continue reading “(Non)final words : Ukraine in Russian political trials” →