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all over the world will suffer, your whole movement will suffer. And they know perfectly well that they have no way to win.
"So now they are trying this strategy, that if you agree to plead guilty they will withdraw the case, and you will be released. Perhaps for five years you will not be allowed to enter into America." They said, "It hurts us to ask you to agree to plead guilty, because you are not guilty. We were here to help you and we have come with a proposal that you have to accept. But it is better to accept and get rid of it; otherwise we will be helpless, and we don't know what they will do."
Seeing the whole situation -- my sannyasins were fasting, not eating, and they were in immense misery and anguish -- I said to them, "Don't be worried, I will agree to plead guilty. My agreement does not mean that I am guilty. Once I am out of the court I will say to the press and to the whole world that this is the way they forced my attorneys: by asking me to agree to plead guilty."
I agreed to plead guilty, and I was released. The judge was perfectly aware of all the negotiations, because on two points they wanted me to accept I was guilty. They had a list of twenty points, but only on two points, specifically, did they want me to say I was guilty. And the judge asked only about those two points, "Are you guilty or not?" So that means he was clearly aware of the negotiations and the whole process and the whole strategy.
And because I agreed to plead guilty, he imposed a fine of four hundred thousand dollars -- which was not part of the negotiations. So all the way lying...! It must have been in their minds. With the judge it must have been settled, that once I accepted the guilty plea then of course the judge was capable of fining me. They never brought it up in the negotiations. All that was said was that for five years I would not be able to enter America. But this half a million dollars, now the judge was capable...
The whole thing was so absurd. First you ask me to take the oath that I will not speak anything but the truth. Then you force me to lie and say that I am guilty. And then on that lie you fine me four hundred thousand
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