Alla Gutnikova is among the editors of the Moscow student journal DOXA, who faced prison sentences for “inciting minors to take part in illegal opposition protests.” This translation of her closing statement in their sentencing trial was posted in Facebook by Mariya Nikiforova, who notes that it was adapted from Michelle Panchuk’s translation.

I believe, as wrote Yehuda Amichai, that the world was created beautiful for goodness and for peace, like a bench in a courtyard (in a courtyard, not a court!). I believe that the world was created for tenderness, hope, love, solidarity, passion, joy.

Alla Gutnikova

The journalists were ultimately sentenced to two years of “corrective labor,” reported the Guardian.

Link to Mariya Nikiforova’s Facebook post

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