Pavel V. Ilyin,
Candidate of Historical Sciences, St. Petersburg Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
“Don’t Give Anyone Away…”: an Analysis of the Defensive Tactics of the Accused in the Investigative Process of 1825–1826 and Criticism of Investigative Statements in the Light of the Main Tasks of Studying Decembrism
DOI: 10.31518/2618-9100-2020-6-2
Analysis and interpretation of documents from the investigative process of 1825–1826 are an important part of the work of researchers of Decembrism. Recently, “concepts” have been presented that declare almost complete fabrication of the history of secret societies. In the light of these “innovative discoveries”, the accused appear as people who resignedly yielded to the investigators and agreed with the formulations imposed on them – both during the investigation and in their later memoirs. In particular, we are referring to the book by N.D. Potapova “Speaking from their cells: discourse and political strategies of the Decembrists” (2017), which caused a critical response from experts, as well as earlier articles by this author. This article shows that among the arrested there was a coordination of defensive tactics during the investigation, in some cases, the initial accusatory evidence could be leveled out and refuted as a result of a consistently pursued line of defense. Under these conditions, in many cases, acquitting verdicts were delivered, and the suspects were was released as “not involved” in the case, although initially there was definite incriminating evidence against them. The facts and evidence presented in the article show that there are no signs of staging the process by the state. The investigation into the case of the Decembrists cannot be considered fabricated, drawing parallels with the political processes of the twentieth century, falsified by totalitarian state machines, seems illegal and unfounded. The article shows the decisive importance of a critical approach to the study of investigative evidence for the scientific reconstruction of the history of the Decembrists movement.
Publishing: 31/12/2020
The article has been received by the editor on 09.09.2020
How to cite: Ilyin P.V. “Don’t Give Anyone Away…”: an Analysis of the Defensive Tactics of the Accused in the Investigative Process of 1825–1826 and Criticism of Investigative Statements in the Light of the Main Tasks of Studying Decembrism // Historical Courier, 2020, No. 6 (14), pp. 30–52. [Available online:] http://istkurier.ru/data/2020/ISTKURIER-2020-6-02.pdf
Links: Issue 6 2020
Keywords: the Decembrists; judicial and investigative process; defensive tactics; investigative materials; source studies; criticism of historical sources; staged trial