Tovarishchi sud'i, ya ne budu skryvat' ot vas togo isklyuchitel'no trudnogo, nebyvalo tyazhelogo polozheniya, v kotorom naxoditsya v e^tom dele zashchitnik. Ved' zashchitnik, tovarishchi sud'i, prezhde vsego syn svoej rodiny, on takzhe grazhdanin velikogo Sovetskogo Soyuza, i chuvstva velikogo vozmushcheniya, gneva i uzhasa, kotorye oxvatyvayut sejchac vsyu nashu stranu ot mala do velika, chuvstvo, kotoroe tak yarko otobrazil v svoej rechi prokuror, e^ti chuvstva ne mogut byt' chuzhdy i zashchitnikam... Ya zashchishchayu Knyazeva, nachal'nika dorogi, kotoryj v ogodu yaponskoj razvedke puskal pod otkos poezda s rabochimi i krasnoarmejcami. Ne skroyu, kogda ya chital materialy po delu, kogda perelistyval dokumenty, kogda slushal pokazaniya Knyazeva, mne chudilsya i groxot razrushayushchixsya vagonov i stony umirayushchix i ranenyx krasnoarmejcev... Pripertyj k stene, Knyazev dal soglasie vstupit' v kontrrevolyucionnuyu trockistskuyu organizaciyu. Otkrylas' pervaya stranica otvratitel'nyx deyanij Knyazeva, prodiktovannyx emu trockistskoj terroristicheskoj organizaciej. --Il'ya Braude	Comrade judges, I will not conceal from you that extraordinarily difficult situation, burdensome without precedent, in which the defender finds himself in this case. For the defender, comrade judges, above all is a son of his motherland, he is likewise a citizen of the great Soviet Union, and the feelings of great indignation, anger, and horror, which now engulf all our people from the humble to the great, feelings that the prosecutor reflected so brilliantly in his speech, those feelings cannot be unknown even to defenders... I am defending Knyazev, head of the railways, who on behalf of Japanese intelligence allowed a train of workers and Red Army men to fall off an embankment. I will not conceal, that when I read the materials of the case, when I scanned through the documents, when I heard the deposition of Knyazev, I seemed to hear both the roar of the collapsing railroad cars and the groans of dying and wounded Red Army men... Cornered, Knyazev gave his agreement to join a counterrevolutionary Trotskyite organization. The first page was opened of the revolting deeds of Knyazev, dictated to him by a Trotskyite terrorist organization. --Il'ya Braude
Tovarishchi sud'i, chudovishchna kartina izmeny i predatel'stva, kotoraya razvernulas' pered vami na protyazhenii e^tix neskol'kix dnej. Bezmerna tyazhest' viny sidyashchix na skam'e podsudimyx. Ponyaten gnev narodnyx mass nashego Soyuza. S predel'noj udivitel'nost'yu i yasnost'u vskrylis' zdes, na sude, kak samaya rabota trockistskoj organizacii, tak i metody, kotorye premenyala ona dlya vovlecheniya v svoyu sredu... Krug argumentov, kotorye mozhno predlozhit' vashemu vnimaniyu, krug dovodov, kotorye mogut byt' vydvinuty kak momenty, smyagchayushchie vinu togo ili inogo obvinyaemogo po e^tomu delu, -- chrezvychajno suzhivaetsya. --Sergej Kaznacheev	Comrade judges, it is a monstrous picture of treason that has unfolded before us over the last several weeks. Immeasurable is the guilt of those sitting on the defendants' bench. Understandable is the anger of the masses of our Union. With striking clarity were revealed here, in court, both the very work of a Trotskyist organization, and the methods which it used to recruit into its midst... The range of arguments, which can be offered to your attention, the range of reasons, which can be advanced as circumstances ameliorating the guilt of this or that defendant -- is extraordinarily narrow. --Sergei Kaznacheyev
Gluboko byl prav tov. Vyshinskij... Esli my, zashchitniki v e^tom processe, budem prosit' vas, tovarishchi sud'i, otstupit' v otnoshenii togo ili inogo podsudimogo ot toj vysshej mery nakazaniya, kotoruyu predlagal gosudarstvennyj obvenitel', to ne po osnovaniyam, lezhashchim v xaraktere prestupleniya ili v lichnosti posudimogo, a po osnovaniyam, kotorye vytekayut iz samogo fakta sily, mogushchestva i moshchi Sovetskogo Soyuza. --Nikolaj Kommodov	Comrade Vyshinsky is most profoundly correct... If we, the defense attorneys in this trial, should ask you, comrade judges, to renounce, in relation to this or that defendant, the supreme measure of punishment proposed by the state prosecutor, that would not be based on the nature of the crime or the personality of the defendant, but rather on the very fact of the strength, might, and power of the Soviet Union. --Nikolai Kommodov