The Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the Soviet Union (Russian: Военная коллегия Верховного суда СССР, romanized: Voennaya kollegiya Verkhovnogo suda SSSR) was created in 1924 by the Supreme Court of the Soviet Union as a court for the higher military and political personnel of the Red Army and Fleet.[1] In addition it was an immediate supervisor of military tribunals and the supreme authority of military appeals.
During 1926–1948 the Chairman of the Collegium was Vasiliy Ulrikh.[2]
The role of the Military Collegium drastically changed after June 1934, when it was assigned the duty to consider cases that fell under Article 58, counter-revolutionary activity.
During the Great Purge of 1937–1938 the Military Collegium tried relatively prominent figures, usually based on the lists approved personally by Joseph Stalin,[3] the majority of Article 58 cases having been processed extrajudicially by NKVD troikas. In particular, the Military Collegium conducted the major Soviet show trials.[4]
The Collegium was also involved in a subsequent trial of Polish General Leopold Okulicki, the last commander of the Polish Home Army, and Jan Stanisław Jankowski, Government Delegate for Poland.[5]
Chairmen
edit- 1923–1926: Valentin Trifonov
- 1926–1948: Vasiliy Ulrikh
- 1948–1957: Aleksandr Cheptsov
- 1957–1964: Viktor Borisoglebskiy
- 1964–1971: Nikolay Chistyakov
See also
edit- Ministry of Justice of the Soviet Union
- Stalin's shooting lists
- Military Chamber of the Supreme Court of Russia
- Solovetsky Stone, a memorial to victims of Soviet repression, many of whom were executed under orders from the Military Collegium
References
edit- ^ Terrill, Richard J. (2013). World Criminal Justice Systems: A Comparative Survey. Routledge. ISBN 9781455725892.
- ^ "Moscow Trials 1936, August 23 (Evening session)".
- ^ Jansen, Marc; Petrov, Nikita (2006). "Mass terror and the court: The Military Collegium of the USSR". Europe-Asia Studies. 58 (4): 589–602. doi:10.1080/09668130600652159. S2CID 53468990.
- ^ Erickson, John (2013-07-04). The Soviet High Command: A Military-political History, 1918-1941: A Military Political History, 1918-1941. Routledge. ISBN 9781136339523.
- ^ "General Leopold Okulicki (From the left) and Jan Stanisław Jankowski heard before the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the U.S.S.R".
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