Decree following Kirov's Murder

Central Executive Committee, On the Amendment of the Criminal Procedural Codes of the Union Republics. December 1, 1934

Original Source: Sistematicheskoe sobranie deistvuiushchikh zakonov Soiuza sovetskikh sotsialisticheskikh respublik, No. 64 (Moscow, 1934), Art. 459.

The Central Executive Committee of the USSR decrees that the following amendments on the investigation and consideration of cases relating to terrorist organizations and terrorist acts against agents of the Soviet Government shall be introduced into the existing criminal codes of the union republics.

  1. The investigation of such cases must be terminated during a period of not more than ten days.

  2. The indictments should be presented to the accused twenty-four hours before the hearing of the case in court.

  3. The cases must be heard without participation of a defense counsel.

  4. Appeal against the sentences and also petitions for pardon are not to be admitted.

  5. Sentence to the highest degree of punishment must be carried out immediately after the passing of the sentence.

President of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR, M. Kalinin.
Secretary of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR, A. Enukidze.

1934

All Stalin’s Men Birobidzhan The Kirov Affair The Moscow Metro Pavlik Morozov Physical Culture Popular Film Industry Seventeenth Party Congress Socialist Realism Soviet Champagne Writers’ Congress