Rokotov-Faibishenko case
Encyclopedia
The Rokotov–Faibishenko case, tried in the Soviet Union
in 1961, helped demonstrate that despite the Khrushchev Thaw
, Stalinist
tendencies were still present in the Soviet judicial system. It also marked the start of a three-year campaign against large-scale economic crimes, accompanied by show trial
s.
Ever since the 6th World Festival of Youth and Students
, held in Moscow
in 1957, dealing in foreign currency had begun to take place on a fairly large scale despite being illegal. Soviets (generally of a young age) would buy foreign currency from tourists and other visitors, selling it for a profit; this was for purely personal gain and not a political phenomenon.
In 1961, the authorities broke one such speculation ring, composed of nine people, which had acquired around 20 million rubles
in a year. During the search, they found 344,000 rubles, 1,524 gold coins, about $
19,000, almost £
500, 3,345 new and 133,000 old French franc
s, 1,500 German mark
s, 8,500 Belgian franc
s, other currency, icon
s and other contraband. It was the KGB
that conducted the investigation because contact with foreigners was involved.
Those arrested were Ian Timofeyevich Rokotov, I. I. Lagun, the married couple Nadya Edlis and Sergei Popov (a pianist), the brothers Yash and Shalv Papismedov, their nephew Ilya (the three of whom bought gold from Edlis and sold it in Georgia), Vladislav "Vladik" Petrovich Faibishenko, and Mubashirya Rizvanova.
Rokotov and Faibishenko had a history of making profit, which was not only illegal in the USSR but also looked down upon as immoral, as it went against the country's guiding Leninist
ideology. Roikotov had traded in stamps, books and camera equipment in school and moved up to foreign clothing before entering the currency business. Faibishenko had bought and sold foreign stockings and chewing gum during the 1957 youth festival.
Rokotov (at least) was held in Lefortovo prison
prior to the trial.
The case was tried in Moscow City Court beginning on May 31, 1961. The trial lasted thirteen days and was well-attended. On June 15, Rokotov, Faibishenko and Edlis were sentenced to fifteen years' imprisonment and confiscation of all property. Lagun, the Papismedov brothers, and Rizvanova received eight-year sentences and had their illegally obtained property confiscated. Ilya Papismedov was sent to prison for six years. The sentence was met approvingly by the audience, and the state treasury received an infusion of over twelve kilograms of gold coins, a large amount of foreign and Soviet currency, and other materials.
At this point the influence of General Secretary
Nikita Khrushchev
began to be felt, and with it the accompanying politicisation of the case. During the trial the KGB had arranged an exhibit featuring the group's holdings: a mountain of valuables, Czarist
gold coins, a mound of foreign banknotes, packets of Soviet money and bank deposit books. Khrushchev was invited and supposedly remarked, "They need to be shot for this". Although this was taken for yet another of his angry outbursts, he was serious this time.
Those defendants who had received 15-year sentences were given them illegally, as the maximum penalty was eight years (under Article 88 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR). Still, the procurator general of the USSR condemned the "leniency of the punishment" assigned to Rokotov and Faibishenko. Then on July 1 the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet issued an edict providing the death penalty for violators of the laws regarding foreign currency operations. Another edict was issued secretly, applying this norm retroactively to the two men. Aleksei Adzhubei, Khrushchev's son-in-law and editor-in-chief of Izvestia, saw this as clearly illegal and tried to intercede on their behalf, but the General Secretary had made up his mind.
On July 18 and 19 the case was retried by a panel of three judges at the Russian Republic Supreme Court. The trial was shown on television. The court established that Rokotov had bought and sold 12 million rubles' worth of currency and gold coins, while Faibishenko had bought and resold 1 million rubles' worth of currency. Izvestia noted that they had "led a parasitic
type of life and enriched themselves through the benefits created by the working people". Accordingly, on July 21, pursuant to Article 25 of the Law on State Crimes, they were sentenced to death by shooting with confiscation of all their valuables and property. The sentence was heard "with approval" by those present.
Soon after, both men were shot
. They were twenty-two years old. Thousands of Soviet citizens sent letters endorsing the penalty, though a few condemned it, in part because retroactive punishment
was banned by Article 6 of the RSFSR Criminal Code.
Khrushchev had spoken of a "return to Leninist norms of socialist legality" after years of abuse of the legal system by Joseph Stalin
. However, this case made clear that Soviet citizens were still not secure in their rights, that the party
would continue to be arbitrary in its enforcement of the law, which it would continue to subject to its own force and use as a tool to deal with undesirable people. Law and the administration of justice were still subordinate to the party and, in fact, to its leader.
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
in 1961, helped demonstrate that despite the Khrushchev Thaw
Khrushchev Thaw
The Khrushchev Thaw refers to the period from the mid 1950s to the early 1960s, when repression and censorship in the Soviet Union were partially reversed and millions of Soviet political prisoners were released from Gulag labor camps, due to Nikita Khrushchev's policies of de-Stalinization and...
, Stalinist
Stalinism
Stalinism refers to the ideology that Joseph Stalin conceived and implemented in the Soviet Union, and is generally considered a branch of Marxist–Leninist ideology but considered by some historians to be a significant deviation from this philosophy...
tendencies were still present in the Soviet judicial system. It also marked the start of a three-year campaign against large-scale economic crimes, accompanied by show trial
Show trial
The term show trial is a pejorative description of a type of highly public trial in which there is a strong connotation that the judicial authorities have already determined the guilt of the defendant. The actual trial has as its only goal to present the accusation and the verdict to the public as...
s.
Ever since the 6th World Festival of Youth and Students
6th World Festival of Youth and Students
The 6th World Festival of Youth and Students was opened on 28 July 1957, in Moscow, Soviet Union. The festival attracted 34,000 people from 130 countries. This became possible after the bold political changes initiated by Nikita Khrushchev...
, held in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
in 1957, dealing in foreign currency had begun to take place on a fairly large scale despite being illegal. Soviets (generally of a young age) would buy foreign currency from tourists and other visitors, selling it for a profit; this was for purely personal gain and not a political phenomenon.
In 1961, the authorities broke one such speculation ring, composed of nine people, which had acquired around 20 million rubles
Russian ruble
The ruble or rouble is the currency of the Russian Federation and the two partially recognized republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Formerly, the ruble was also the currency of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union prior to their breakups. Belarus and Transnistria also use currencies with...
in a year. During the search, they found 344,000 rubles, 1,524 gold coins, about $
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
19,000, almost £
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
500, 3,345 new and 133,000 old French franc
French franc
The franc was a currency of France. Along with the Spanish peseta, it was also a de facto currency used in Andorra . Between 1360 and 1641, it was the name of coins worth 1 livre tournois and it remained in common parlance as a term for this amount of money...
s, 1,500 German mark
German mark
The Deutsche Mark |mark]], abbreviated "DM") was the official currency of West Germany and Germany until the adoption of the euro in 2002. It is commonly called the "Deutschmark" in English but not in German. Germans often say "Mark" or "D-Mark"...
s, 8,500 Belgian franc
Belgian franc
The franc was the currency of Belgium until 2002 when the euro was introduced into circulation. It was subdivided into centimes , 100 centiem or Centime .-History:...
s, other currency, icon
Icon
An icon is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, from Eastern Christianity and in certain Eastern Catholic churches...
s and other contraband. It was the KGB
KGB
The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
that conducted the investigation because contact with foreigners was involved.
Those arrested were Ian Timofeyevich Rokotov, I. I. Lagun, the married couple Nadya Edlis and Sergei Popov (a pianist), the brothers Yash and Shalv Papismedov, their nephew Ilya (the three of whom bought gold from Edlis and sold it in Georgia), Vladislav "Vladik" Petrovich Faibishenko, and Mubashirya Rizvanova.
Rokotov and Faibishenko had a history of making profit, which was not only illegal in the USSR but also looked down upon as immoral, as it went against the country's guiding Leninist
Leninism
In Marxist philosophy, Leninism is the body of political theory for the democratic organisation of a revolutionary vanguard party, and the achievement of a direct-democracy dictatorship of the proletariat, as political prelude to the establishment of socialism...
ideology. Roikotov had traded in stamps, books and camera equipment in school and moved up to foreign clothing before entering the currency business. Faibishenko had bought and sold foreign stockings and chewing gum during the 1957 youth festival.
Rokotov (at least) was held in Lefortovo prison
Lefortovo prison
Lefortovo prison is a prison in Moscow, Russia, which, since 2005, has been under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation. It was built in 1881...
prior to the trial.
The case was tried in Moscow City Court beginning on May 31, 1961. The trial lasted thirteen days and was well-attended. On June 15, Rokotov, Faibishenko and Edlis were sentenced to fifteen years' imprisonment and confiscation of all property. Lagun, the Papismedov brothers, and Rizvanova received eight-year sentences and had their illegally obtained property confiscated. Ilya Papismedov was sent to prison for six years. The sentence was met approvingly by the audience, and the state treasury received an infusion of over twelve kilograms of gold coins, a large amount of foreign and Soviet currency, and other materials.
At this point the influence of General Secretary
General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the title given to the leader of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. With some exceptions, the office was synonymous with leader of the Soviet Union...
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev led the Soviet Union during part of the Cold War. He served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, and as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, or Premier, from 1958 to 1964...
began to be felt, and with it the accompanying politicisation of the case. During the trial the KGB had arranged an exhibit featuring the group's holdings: a mountain of valuables, Czarist
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
gold coins, a mound of foreign banknotes, packets of Soviet money and bank deposit books. Khrushchev was invited and supposedly remarked, "They need to be shot for this". Although this was taken for yet another of his angry outbursts, he was serious this time.
Those defendants who had received 15-year sentences were given them illegally, as the maximum penalty was eight years (under Article 88 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR). Still, the procurator general of the USSR condemned the "leniency of the punishment" assigned to Rokotov and Faibishenko. Then on July 1 the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet issued an edict providing the death penalty for violators of the laws regarding foreign currency operations. Another edict was issued secretly, applying this norm retroactively to the two men. Aleksei Adzhubei, Khrushchev's son-in-law and editor-in-chief of Izvestia, saw this as clearly illegal and tried to intercede on their behalf, but the General Secretary had made up his mind.
On July 18 and 19 the case was retried by a panel of three judges at the Russian Republic Supreme Court. The trial was shown on television. The court established that Rokotov had bought and sold 12 million rubles' worth of currency and gold coins, while Faibishenko had bought and resold 1 million rubles' worth of currency. Izvestia noted that they had "led a parasitic
Parasitism (social offense)
Social parasitism is a charge that is leveled against a group or class in society which is considered to be detrimental to the whole by analogy with biologic parasitism .-General concept:...
type of life and enriched themselves through the benefits created by the working people". Accordingly, on July 21, pursuant to Article 25 of the Law on State Crimes, they were sentenced to death by shooting with confiscation of all their valuables and property. The sentence was heard "with approval" by those present.
Soon after, both men were shot
Execution by shooting
Execution by shooting is a form of capital punishment whereby an executed person is shot by one or more firearms. It is the most common method of execution worldwide, used in about 70 countries, with execution by firing squad being one particular form...
. They were twenty-two years old. Thousands of Soviet citizens sent letters endorsing the penalty, though a few condemned it, in part because retroactive punishment
Ex post facto law
An ex post facto law or retroactive law is a law that retroactively changes the legal consequences of actions committed or relationships that existed prior to the enactment of the law...
was banned by Article 6 of the RSFSR Criminal Code.
Khrushchev had spoken of a "return to Leninist norms of socialist legality" after years of abuse of the legal system by Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
. However, this case made clear that Soviet citizens were still not secure in their rights, that the party
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the only legal, ruling political party in the Soviet Union and one of the largest communist organizations in the world...
would continue to be arbitrary in its enforcement of the law, which it would continue to subject to its own force and use as a tool to deal with undesirable people. Law and the administration of justice were still subordinate to the party and, in fact, to its leader.