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Parabola of Defense: The Most Resonant Trials in the History of the USSR and the Russian Empire
According to Svetlana Shtukova, Director of the Russian State Historical Archives (RGIA), the exhibition presents documents that have been identified by experts in recent years and have never been exhibited before. Lawyers will be the first to see this document, followed by St. Petersburg historians. The crowning glory of the exhibition is the documents that became the foundation of the legal profession. This is the most approved "judicial body for regulating" the rights, duties and responsibilities of attorneys-at-law from November 20, 1864. The exhibit is a heavy, large volume covered in walnut leather and placed in a separate display case.
Perhaps the most high-profile pre-revolutionary trial known to the general public was the trial of Vera Zasulich, who shot the mayor of St. Petersburg, Fyodor Trepov. Timely assistance saved him. And Vera Zasulich was detained and brought to trial. The jury found the girl not guilty. But perhaps few remember her defenders. Although many wanted to represent Zasulich's interests in court, she preferred her lawyer and former prosecutor Pyotr Alexandrov. According to contemporaries, his speech during the debates before the jury was brilliant. Moreover, it was not only published in Russian newspapers, but also translated into foreign languages. Alexandrov himself said on the eve of the trial that he was "almost certain of success."
Lawyers interviewed by DP named two significant cases of the Soviet era in Leningrad. "This is the trial of a high-ranking official who held the top posts in the Leningrad party organization for many years and was part of the entourage of the then deceased former leader Andrei Zhdanov," recalls the lawyer. Mikhail Krylov "By 1950, all of them were accused and sentenced to death for trying to create a parallel with Moscow, the center of Soviet power. This was the culmination of the "Leningrad incident." However, by 1954, many of those convicted under this law were reinstated.
Another example was given by the chairman of the Leningrad Region Bar Association, Denis Laktionov. This is the Leningrad trial of German war criminals. "Then 11 German soldiers were brought to trial on charges of committing war crimes against civilians during the occupation of the Leningrad Region," the lawyer says. punishment."
Dean of the Law Faculty of St. Petersburg State University Sergei Belov notes that pre-revolutionary laws allow for measures to be taken against the state if necessary. An example is the biography of the famous lawyer Dmitry Stasov. "He was not allowed to teach at universities, he went to bars and participated as a defense attorney in cases where opponents of the system were tried," said Sergei Belov.
According to Denis Laktionov, if we imagine that the Russian legal profession, which has existed for 160 years, existed in the form of geometric figures, it would be a parabola. At the bottom are Soviet times, at the top are Russian laws. Professions and the modern Russian language. "Unfortunately, the Soviet era was characterized by a decrease in the role and procedural capabilities of lawyers," says Denis Laktionov. At that time, lawyers could participate in criminal cases only at the final stage of the preliminary investigation and mainly conducted it. "Defend yourself in court."
However, as the experience of the law firm shows, evolution is inevitable. According to Mikhail Krylov, 10-15 years ago, investigators often asked their clients, who were asked to give explanations or to interrogate as witnesses, the following questions: "Why do you have to hide or be afraid of anything? Why do you have to be afraid of something?" Mikhail Krylov sums up: "Over the past few years, we have no longer heard such statements about qualified legal assistance, especially about the presence of lawyers providing defense."
However, Deputy Minister of Justice Maxim Beskhmelnitsyn, who greeted lawyers at the opening of the exhibition, believes that little has changed over the past 160 years. Lawyers continue to defend the law. Against the backdrop of heated debates around the introduction of lawyers' right to legal representation, such an assessment by a high-ranking official instills hope in society. Ultimately, according to the authors of the reform, these changes should improve the quality of legal services provided to legal entities and individuals in various cases.
And if the Ministry of Justice values the current standards of a law firm so highly, then it would seem that it could not only help new employees get acquainted with the status of a lawyer, but also monitor the law firm's compliance with the law. Professional standards.