The role of judicial authorities in criminal proceedings for political crimes in the Stalinist period: modern historiography

The subject. Historiography of the participation of the judicial authorities in mass repressions in Soviet Union in the 1930s-1950s.

The purpose of the article is to confirm or disprove the hypothesis that the number of studies of the historical involvement of the judiciary in repression in recent years is increasing; researches cover more and more regions of the former USSR and help to create a complete picture of the special procedural law for political cases in Soviet Union in the 1930s-1950s.

Methodology. The author uses historical legal method. The author analyses legal and historic literature, written by scientists who live in former USSR. Analysis of judicial statistics is used also.

Results, scope of application. The history of the Soviet court remains the subject of active research interest at the present time. At the same time, special publications summarizing the entire body of scientific works on the participation of justice in mass repressions are not issued. A number of works on the history of the judicial authorities contain sections on the application of the rules of judicial procedure to political crimes. Currently, PhD theses, covering an increasing number of regions of Russia, are being defended actively. Unfortunately, some regional researchers are not familiar with the modern historiography of the judicial system and, therefore, repeats some of the conclusions that have been made before. Researchers are trying to formulate new approaches to assess the repressive policy of the Soviet state. For example, V. N. Karaman determines the repressions using political criterion. Researches that are not directly related to the history of judicial proceedings contain valuable information about the participation of courts in mass repressions often. Also, the group of researchers continues to develop the theme of rehabilitation of victims of political repression. New young researchers are emerging.

We should also highlight a group of works on the historiography of mass repression. The appearance of such works is justified. A lot of research has accumulated for 70 years, which need to be generalized and systematized. Three of the PhD thesis, dedicated to the repression of the state security organs, five theses on the mass repressions, 14 theses on the camps during the war were defended during 1990-2010 years in Siberia

The Russian-French seminars "Judicial political processes in the USSR and Communist countries of Europe: a comparative analysis of mechanisms and practices", held in 2009-2011, played an important role in summarizing the main problems of legal proceedings in political cases.

Modern science continues to study various aspects of the application of criminal procedure for counter-revolutionary crimes. Scientists are exploring in detail the role of the j judicial authorities in conducting mass repressions in Soviet Union the 1930-1950s. Individual problems of political justice are considered in detail: types of political processes, rehabilitation procedures, official forgery, cassation on political affairs, etc. There are separate areas of activity of the judicial authorities, directed against certain groups of the population: military, intellectuals, party-soviet officials, peasants, etc. Regional studies continue to appear, reflecting the role of the judicial authorities in mass repressions.

Conclusions. The judicial authorities are considered generally in the context of the activities of all repressive bodies in modern legal and historical scientific literature; researches cover more and more regions of the former USSR and may lead to a complete picture of the special procedural law in political cases in Soviet Union in the 1930s-1950s.

Criminal procedure, mass repressions, historiography, totalitarian law, counter-revolutionary crimes, simplified legal proceedings, judicial authorities

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