Posting in full a new translation of the "last word" speech at court of historian Alexander Skobov at his trial this week, who will most likely perish in Putin's Gulag. This is the voice of a true Russian patriot and I'm honored that a man of such immense courage is a member of the Free Russia Forum. It's worth noting that Alexander was jailed as a young man back in the Soviet days for his dissident views. Arrested by Communists, now by fascists, a true demonstration of his immense courage and unshakeable principles. -- Garry ********************** "I was raised in the Soviet Union with the conviction that when an evil aggressor attacks peaceful citizens, one must take up arms and fight. And if you cannot hold a weapon yourself, you must help those who can, and encourage others to do so. All my public activity is a call to fight the aggressor who attacked Ukraine, to support Ukraine with weapons and ammunition. I consider myself a participant in the armed resistance against the aggressor. In the missiles and shells that destroy the invaders, there is a small part of me. And I share a small part in every eliminated occupier. No one attacked Russia, no one threatened it. It is Putin’s Nazi regime that attacked Ukraine, driven solely by its leaders’ delusions of grandeur and their inhuman lust for power over everyone around them. They affirm themselves by killing hundreds of thousands of people. They are degenerates, scum, Nazi filth. The guilt of Putin's Nazi dictatorship in preparing, unleashing, and waging an aggressive war is obvious and needs no proof. Likewise, our right to armed resistance against the aggressor on the battlefield and on the aggressor’s territory needs no justification. Indeed, it would be laughable to expect such acknowledgment from a regime that imprisons people merely for uttering a word of moral condemnation against it. All possibilities for legal protest against Putin's aggression have long been eradicated. My calls for armed resistance against the aggressor’s regime are considered by it to be terroristic activity. I will not argue with the aggressor's authorities, even if they decide to charge me with pedophilia. The judicial system in Russia has long proven itself to be an appendage of Nazi tyranny, and seeking justice there is meaningless. I will never bow before these people – accomplices to murderers and scoundrels. I have nothing to argue about with them. Let the cannons speak for me. I see no point in arguing with the dictatorship’s marionets about how faithfully they apply their laws. These are, in any case, the laws of a totalitarian state aimed at trampling dissent. I do not recognize these laws and will not succumb to them. I also will not appeal any decisions or actions of the representatives of this Nazi regime. I do not seek mercy from my armed enemy. The Putin dictatorship may kill me, but it cannot force me to abandon my fight against it. Wherever I may be, I will continue to call on honest Russians to join the Armed Forces of Ukraine. I will continue to advocate for strikes on military targets deep within Russian territory. I will call on the civilized world to inflict a strategic defeat on Nazi Russia. I will argue for the necessity of the military destruction of the new Hitler regime. Putin is the new Hitler, intoxicated by impunity, a ghoul drunk on blood. And I will not tire of repeating: “Crush the serpent!” Death to Putin - murderer, tyrant, and scoundrel! Death to the Russian-fascist invaders! Glory to Ukraine!" **********************************