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you to pronounce: ‘Yes, he is guilty.’
‘Better acquit ten guilty men than punish one innocent
man! Do you hear, do you hear that majestic voice from
the past century of our glorious history? It is not for an in-
significant person like me to remind you that the Russian
court does not exist for the punishment only, but also for
the salvation of the criminal! Let other nations think of ret-
ribution and the letter of the law, we will cling to the spirit
and the meaning — the salvation and the reformation of
the lost. If this is true, if Russia and her justice are such,
she may go forward with good cheer! Do not try to scare
us with your frenzied troikas from which all the nations
stand aside in disgust. Not a runaway troika, but the stately
chariot of Russia will move calmly and majestically to its
goal. In your hands is the fate of my client, in your hands is
the fate of Russian justice. You will defend it, you will save
it, you will prove that there are men to watch over it, that it
is in good hands!’

1 The Brothers Karamazov