Moscow Trials

The Moscow Trials were a series of trials of political opponents of Joseph Stalin during the Great Purge. They are widely considered to have been show trials in which the verdicts were predetermined. The defendants were accused of conspiring with the western powers to assassinate Stalin and other Soviet leaders, dismember the Soviet Union and restore capitalism, according to Article 58 (RSFSR Penal Code).

Details

First Moscow Trial (Trial of the Sixteen)

The first trial was held from August 19 to August 24, 1936; the principal defendants were Gregory Zinoviev and Lev Kamenev.

Related Topics:
August 19 - August 24 - 1936 - Gregory Zinoviev - Lev Kamenev

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The full list of defendants is as follows:

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• Grigory Yevseyevich Zinoviev
• Lev Borisovich Kamenev
• Grigory Yevdokimov
• Ivan Bakayev
• Sergei Vitalyevich Mrachkovsky, a hero of the Russian Civil War in Siberia and the Russian Far East
• Vagarshak Arutyunovich Ter-Vaganyan, leader of the Armenian Communist Party
• Ivan Nikitich Smirnov, People's Commissar for communications
• Yefim Dreitzer
• Isak Reingold
• Richard Pickel
• Eduard Holtzman
• Fritz David (Ilya-David Israilevich Kruglyansky)
• Valentin Olberg
• Konon Berman-Yurin
• Moissei Lurye (Alexander Emel)
• Nathan Lurye

All of them were charged under Articles 58.8, 19 and 58.11 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR. The main charge was forming a terrorist organization with the purpose of killing Joseph Stalin and other members of the Soviet government. They were tried by the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR, with Vasili Ulrikh presiding, and sentenced to death, the prosecutor being Andrei Vyshinsky.

Related Topics:
RSFSR - Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR - Vasili Ulrikh - Andrei Vyshinsky

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Trial of Radek and Piatakov (Trial of the Seventeen)

In another trial in January 1937, the principal defendants were Karl Radek, Yuri Piatakov, Grigori Sokolnikov, Nikolai Muralov, Mikhail Boguslavsky and others (17 persons altogether). All but four of them were sentenced to death; the remainder were sentenced to imprisonment in labor camps.

Related Topics:
1937 - Karl Radek - Yuri Piatakov - Grigori Sokolnikov - Nikolai Muralov - Mikhail Boguslavsky - Labor camp

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Trial of Military

Main article: Case of Trotskyist Anti-Soviet Military Organization

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The 1937 trial of high military commanders, also known as "Tukhachevsky Affair", was a secret trial, unlike the Moscow show trials. However, it featured the same level of frame-up of the defendants and it is traditionally considered one of the key trials of the Great Purge. Marshal Tukhachevsky and the senior military officers Iona Yakir, Ieronim Uborevich, Robert Eideman, Avgust Kork, Vitovt Putna, B.M. Feldman and Vitali Primakov were accused of anti-Communist conspiracy and sentenced to death; they were executed on the night of June 11/June 12, immediately after the verdict delivered by a Special Session of the Supreme Court of the USSR. This trial triggered a massive purge of the Red Army, with the total number of executed estimated by 42,000.

Related Topics:
Secret trial - Show trial - Great Purge - Iona Yakir - Ieronim Uborevich - Robert Eideman - Avgust Kork - Vitovt Putna - B.M. Feldman - Vitali Primakov - June 11 - June 12 - Supreme Court of the USSR

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Trial of the Twenty One

Main article: Trial of the Twenty One.

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The Trial of the Twenty-One was held in March 1938. The chief accused were Alexei Rykov, Nikolai Bukharin, Nikolai Krestinsky, Christian Rakovsky, and Genrikh Yagoda.

Related Topics:
1938 - Alexei Rykov - Nikolai Bukharin - Nikolai Krestinsky - Christian Rakovsky - Genrikh Yagoda

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