In this paper, we propose to discuss the last death sentence in Russia. Currently, this type of punishment is legally prohibited, which leads to an increase in the number of dangerous crimes. The death sentence is usually commuted

In the article you will learn not only about the criminal life of the last executed person, but also what will happen if the moratorium is lifted.

Moratorium on the death penalty

The last death sentence in Russia was carried out just a couple of weeks before it was abolished. To become familiar with this topic, you must refer to the Constitution of the Russian Federation and the Criminal Code. The death penalty is the highest degree of punishment that was imposed on persons who committed terrible crimes or attempted murder.

At the moment, the death penalty is prohibited by the following document: protocol number 6 and PACE recommendations. This type of punishment is legally prohibited.

Reasons for abandoning the death penalty

This type of punishment is not available for two reasons:

• signed protocol No. 6 (European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights);
• presidential decree not allowing the death penalty.

Regarding the first point, the text states that it is impossible to take the life of a person intentionally, with the exception of imposing a death sentence. That is, by and large, the European Convention allows the death penalty. But because of this it remains inaccessible. This document prohibits the death penalty until a jury trial is created in all regions of the Russian Federation. The last death sentence in Russia was imposed shortly before the introduction of the moratorium (April 1997), which expired in January 2010. But in 2009 it was extended until the ratification of the protocol on the abolition of this punishment.

Review of the type of punishment after the lifting of the moratorium

The last death sentence in Russia was carried out in 1996. But what happens if the moratorium is lifted? Prisoners are not required, but have the right, to file a petition for clemency. This is completely independent of whether this document was submitted before the moratorium was introduced or not.

The death sentence can be carried out in three cases:

• after the court verdict comes into force;
• rejection of the application by the President of the Russian Federation;
• non-application of pardon if the convicted person does not apply.

It is also necessary to know that new laws can either soften or worsen a prisoner’s sentence.

The last death penalty in Russia

The last death sentence in Russia (September 2, 1996) was handed down and carried out in Butyrka. This citizen committed about 40 particularly serious crimes (rape and murder of boys in the Moscow region). He carried on his criminal activities for 6 years. Two days before the capture of “Boa”, the Rostov court pronounced a verdict on the most terrible and dangerous criminal of the USSR, Andrei Chikatilo.

Since similar crimes were carried out in two regions at once (Moscow and the Rostov region), employees of the USSR criminal investigation department were inclined to this version: the crimes were committed by one person who made flights between these two regions. Before the capture of "Boa", the criminal was known by the nickname "Fisher".

Role-playing game

The last death sentence in Russia was handed down on September 2, 1996, to the particularly dangerous serial killer and rapist Sergei Golovkin. The most terrible thing about these crimes was that Boa constricted himself as a fascist and his victim as a partisan. For Golovkin, murder and torture are a kind of role-playing game.

He committed his first crime in 1982 near the Romantic camp. Golovkin tracked down the boy and, under threat of death, took him into the forest. There he tore off the child's clothes and hung him from a tree using a rope loop. Fortunately, this time the victim remained alive and was able to describe the appearance of the criminal.

Witness

Boa Constrictor, who received the last death sentence in Russia, committed the following crimes with greater cruelty. The second victim is a teenager from the Zvezdny camp in the Odintsovo district. He cut off the boy's head and ripped open the abdominal cavity; the severed genitals were found next to the body in a bag.

The third victim was dismembered in the village of Zarechye. The crime was committed with great cruelty, because more than 30 stab wounds were found on the remains of the dismembered body.

After three cases, the Odintsovo district police department created an investigative and operational group to capture Golovkin, because it became clear that a serial, especially dangerous criminal had appeared in the city. That’s how they found the first witness in the pioneer camp “Zvezdny”, he claimed that he saw a Boa constrictor, and he said his last name.

Fisher version

The last death sentence in Russia was carried out in 1996, the defendant's name was Sergei Golovkin. After committing three crimes, he “lay low” for several years. But this break was only the “calm before the storm.”

We have already mentioned that a witness was found in the Zvezdny camp. So, this boy, unlike his friend, was able to escape from the criminal. He said that they talked to him not far from the camp. Golovkin said that his last name is Fischer, he escaped from prison and the police are looking for him. The boy described his appearance and the tattoo he saw on his arm.

Thus, police officers were able to identify about 6 thousand people prone to violence and solve some crimes. But Golovkin remained free.

Handwriting

The last time a death sentence was carried out in Russia was a few weeks before the abolition of the death penalty on the territory of the state.

During the “lull”, Fischer purchased a car and received a place for a garage on the territory of the Moscow stud farm, where he worked as a livestock specialist. Beneath it he set up a place of torture for his future victims.

This is how the criminal’s style changed, he lured people into his garage under various pretexts or picked up teenagers voting on the road. After the torture, Golovkin took the bodies to the “burial grounds.”

Taste of the booty

Shortly before the last death sentence in Russia was carried out, Golovkin made a mistake in his miscalculations. He decided to taste the victim and keep the head and skin as souvenirs.

During the forensic examination, it was revealed that the criminal used feed salt to tan leather. This clue led the police to the stud farm.

Strengthening the task force

The last death sentence in Russia was carried out on September 2, 1996. But how was the criminal caught? After strengthening the task force, another terrible crime occurred. On September 15, 1992, three boys disappeared at once.

The operatives managed to find out that Uncle Seryozha, who works at the Moscow Stud Farm No. 1, once gave them a lift in his new car. Then the employees had no doubts. We need to catch the criminal, and urgently, before other children die in the “clutches” of a serial killer.

Boa Constrictor Detention

How to make an arrest if there is no evidence? Even round-the-clock monitoring of the maniac did not produce any results.

I had to take it under Article 90 (10/19/92). Only after inspecting the garage was he charged under Art. 102 (October 30 of the same year). Golovkin indicated all the burial places; some of the people were still listed as “missing” at that time. Golovkin admitted to killing only eleven children, which did not prevent him from being sentenced to the highest degree of punishment. The investigation continued until 1994, but it was not possible to prove the involvement of Boa in other crimes.

Puff

The last death sentence in Russia regarding Golovkin was carried out in 1996, and the court's decision was heard back in 1994. Why was the sentence not carried out earlier?

Boris Yeltsin ignored the petitions for a long time, but on the eve of the signing of Protocol No. 6, all complaints (more than 100) were urgently considered. More than half were rejected, and Golovkin’s petition was also included here. For the rest, the death penalty was replaced with life or 25-year imprisonment.

IN Last year, from January to August, 53 shots were fired in Russian cities, which were not included in police statistics. For none of them did task forces go to the crime scene. Everything was already known: in specially equipped cells of pre-trial detention centers, the life of a person whose crimes the court had punished with death - by shooting - was cut short.

First-hand

As in all past years, the execution of criminals doomed to death is still surrounded by a veil of secrecy

H then I know about this terrible procedure, the last years of my service in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, I worked as a political officer in the Kamchatka pre-trial detention center? Little. Firstly, such a sacrament was performed only in those prison casemates that were designated by the Ministry of Internal Affairs for each Russian region. When a death row prisoner held by us was denied pardon, an encrypted message came from Moscow with this news and an instruction: in order to carry out the sentence of a person doomed to death, we must immediately transport a special convoy to the Khabarovsk pre-trial detention center to carry out the sentence. I was always amazed at how quickly my colleagues there sent a person whom I had literally just handed over to the convoy to another world - it turned out that he was put against the wall in the very first hours after meeting him. As they say, hello and goodbye.

And another thing: the rules for keeping death row prisoners, their preparation for execution and its ritual itself were declared top secret order of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs No. 002 - my then boss kept it in a personal safe and only waved the cover in front of my nose once. No matter how many secrets we have learned from the special services over the past decade, the execution topic still remains tightly closed to society; those conversations with executors that claim to be sensational, which often appear in the newspapers, are nothing more than the fantasies of my colleagues in the pen.

Therefore, I will share with the reader what I know for certain.

Awaiting execution

TO As soon as the court announces a death sentence to the criminal, immediately after returning to the pre-trial detention center, he is dressed in a striped robe with a striped cap and placed in a special cell. The barred window in it is covered with such a thick visor that one can only guess about the heavens on the other side. The door is locked with a combination lock, which cannot be opened without the knowledge of the assistant director of the pre-trial detention center on duty. Those sentenced to death while away their days either alone or with a partner. Every day begins with handcuffing and a wholesale search - walls and bars are tapped, bedding and clothes are probed centimeter by centimeter. No walks, no dates, no conversations on the phone, which are occasionally allowed to others. Exit to the bathhouse or to the medical unit - only one by one, only in handcuffs and with heavy security, only through deserted corridors.

The first months after the verdict, death row inmates live in hope - after all, the cassation appeal to the Supreme Court has gone, what if the verdict is either canceled, or the case is sent for further investigation, or the “tower” is replaced with life? This wait can last six months, or even more, all this time the person does not leave hope for a better outcome. From time to time, the only person on the outside with whom it is allowed to communicate appears - his lawyer, who will console him and share news.

But now the decision of the Supreme Court has been received, the verdict has been confirmed, but the death row man is still holding on - it’s not evening yet! You can also compose and send a pitiful petition to the president and expect mercy from him. They wait a year, a year and a half - I still remember the double murderer Marat Konkin, who was tortured in anticipation of execution for four years and was still allowed to live. It was no longer a person—a lying corpse. Gray hair on his balding head, shaking hands, dystrophic thinness - he was then twenty-four years old.

And one more trick that perhaps few people know about. Death row inmates learn the result of considering a petition for clemency only if it is granted and the person is given life. If I opened a secret package with a refusal delivered by the field communications service, on the same day and hour we received an order: to send the condemned person to Khabarovsk on the next plane flight. What this meant was known not only to us officers, but also to those passengers who were being taken to slaughter.

On the last journey

WITH The old truth: everything that they try to hide is entangled not only in secrecy - lies. The suicide bombers begged to meet with their wife, mother or child - we lied to them that they either had a cold, or a blizzard blocked all the roads, or the post office and telephone were working very poorly. If only he would believe us, if only he wouldn’t freak out and get on our nerves by opening veins or making a noose. Once they read to us a menacing order from the minister, by which the shoulder straps of the leaders of one of the “execution” pre-trial detention centers were torn off: one of their suicide bombers did commit suicide. Between the lines one could easily recognize not only the minister’s anger, but also simply a personal insult to him: the bandit should have been shot by the will of the court and the president, but he, the impudent one, arbitrarily took his own life and escaped from legal punishment.

Seeing off those condemned to execution, in which I took part in my accursed position, now seems to me like a solid theatrical performance, in which both the main characters and the extras played their roles naturally. Imagine - absolutely all the suicide bombers believed us.

So, a special convoy arrived - four hefty guys with machine guns, walkie-talkies and a dog. Today they will take Kostya Ivantsov, 26 years old, on his last journey, always known as an excellent worker at the shipyard and an exemplary family man. And here you are: I went fishing with my friends, they started poaching, and then a fisheries inspector showed up. Kostya was drunk to the point of amazement at the time, and therefore he ended the altercation with the unexpected guest as easily as possible: he hit him with a doublet from a gun...

I talked with Kostya more often than with others, no matter how hard I tried to pass unnoticed near his cell - he heard and recognized my steps. I noticed this amazing ability in every suicide bomber: God knows how, but they unmistakably guessed who was passing along the corridor - the owner, godfather or lepila (doctor). I will not hide that talking with the doomed was a mortal torment for me, especially in the evenings, when I felt that the reserve of compassion had already been spent, that I could no longer listen, or smile, or speak. And then watch your face, gait, movements, speech and think about what smile to squeeze out of yourself when the same Kostya asked the same thing: “Boss, will they kill me soon?”

But that's it now. Now I come to Ivantsov exactly after dinner and play my role diligently: they say, his pardon will not be considered until another examination is carried out, this time in Khabarovsk. So, grab your things and head out. You'll take a ride, they say, at our expense on a good plane, rest for two or three weeks in a hospital bed and come back. And at that very second I see in front of me a robot, a mannequin: the face is white, motionless, the movements are slow but precise. He puts his simple belongings into a bundle, but cannot tie the ribbons: his hands do not obey. Not a single question, not a single request - guessed it?

The sergeants and the duty officer who are waiting for us in the corridor, the convoy, to whom after eighty-five steps (counted!) they will hand over Ivantsov - sheer cordiality, sheer courtesy. Walk, Kostya, through the bars, through the heavy doors, get into a paddy wagon specially provided for you, fly on a plane with nice flight attendants and cheerful passengers - this is your last journey, at the end of which - a bullet in the back of the head. Neither farewell to relatives, nor confession with communion, nor the last letter - the acting in which we participate does not provide for such excesses.

From the Criminal Correctional Code of the Russian Federation.

P adopted by the State Duma on December 18, 1996
Section VII
Execution of the death penalty
Art. 186. Procedure for executing the death penalty
1. The death penalty is not carried out publicly by shooting. The execution of the death penalty in relation to several convicts is carried out separately in relation to each and in the absence of the others.
2. When executing the death penalty, a prosecutor, a representative of the institution in which the death penalty is carried out, and a doctor are present.
...
4. The administration of the institution in which the death penalty is carried out is obliged to notify the court that passed the sentence, as well as one of the close relatives of the convicted person; the body is not released for burial and the place of its burial is not reported.

“It’s good for us to be here...”

Marked 120 years since the birth of Bishop John (Bulin), abbot of the Pskov-Pechersk monastery in the interwar years

The history of Russia in the 20th century is filled with suffering and turmoil, the history of the Russian Orthodox Church is filled with incredible trials and the light of Christ's love. This light entered the world through the servants chosen by God - confessors, martyrs, victims of the Red Caesar. One of God’s chosen ones was Bishop John (Bulin), abbot of the Pechersk Monastery in 1920-1932, during those interwar years when the monastery was located on the territory of the Republic of Estonia, which became a hostage to the diplomatic games of the two superpowers in their claims to world domination.

Nikolai Aleksandrovich Bulin was born on March 1, 1893 into a poor working-class family in the town of Veps, Ryapinsky volost, Võru district, Estonian province. His ancestors came from the Don. Raised in a pious family, Nikolai Bulin chose a path associated with spiritual education. First he studied at the Riga Theological School, then continued his studies at the Riga Theological Seminary, which he successfully completed in 1915. In the same year, he began studying at the St. Petersburg Theological Academy. During these years, Nikolai Bulin established himself among students and teachers as a reliable comrade and diligent student. It is known that at the most crucial moments in the life of the course in which Nikolai studied, it was he who was entrusted with preaching during divine services or delivering a word of greeting at ceremonial acts.

In 1916, Nikolai Alexandrovich left his studies at the Theological Academy and devoted several months of his life to studying at the student school for warrant officers in Old Peterhof. After the course, ensign Nikolai Bulin in June 1917 went to the active army in Transcarpathia to the front of the Great War. He was promoted to junior officer and continued to serve in Bessarabia and Bukovina.

In December 1917, Nikolai Bulin was dismissed from the army and returned to the theological academy. In 1918, during the 2nd year of study, he was tonsured a monk with the name John, in honor of St. John, Met. Tobolsky. On August 12, 1918, the ordination of hieromonk took place in the Holy Trinity Cathedral of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra in Petrograd. The sacrament was performed by Metropolitan Veniamin (Kazan) of Petrograd and Gdov.

Soon, with the blessing of Metropolitan Benjamin, Hieromonk John leaves the restless and hungry Petrograd and returns to his homeland to his parents' house. In October 1918, exhausted and sick with tuberculosis, he illegally crossed the border into Estonia. At the end of 1918, Hieromonk John, with the blessing of Archbishop Eusebius (Grozdov), was sent to the parish of Zacherenye. After short labors as rector of the parish community, he was approved by decree of the Episcopal Council of Estonia as acting Dean of the Pechersk region in January 1920. In February of the same year, Hieromonk John (Bulin) arrived at the Pechersky Monastery to take the position of governor. In December 1920, in Revel, in the Simeon Church, he was elevated to the rank of archimandrite with the appointment of rector of the Pechersk Holy Dormition Monastery.

At this very time - on February 2, 1920, an agreement was signed in Tartu between representatives of Soviet Russia and Estonia on granting independence to the republic and establishing new state borders east of Pechory and Izborsk. This historical event allowed not only the preservation of the ancient Orthodox monastery, but also the acquisition of new development, the spiritual and general cultural upsurge of which covered the entire Pechora region. In this process, considerable merit belonged to the young rector, Archimandrite John (Bulin).

During the years of unrest and upheaval of the October Revolution and the fratricidal civil war, the Pechersky Monastery was in a deplorable state. Several elderly monks, a ruined, ruined farm, dilapidated monastery buildings and dilapidated temple buildings. The abbot began the restoration of the monastery with prayer... He restored the daily, weekly, and annual cycles of worship according to the old monastic order. He himself set an example in worship and prayer life - he was the first everywhere - he sang in the choir, was a brilliant preacher, painted icons, and did not disdain simple peasant labor. Nikolai Pavlovich Zlatinsky, a young resident of Pechory, has vivid memories of this time: “I well remember his thin figure of average height in a modest cassock, his blue-eyed stern but smiling handsome face, his golden curly hair scattered over his shoulders. At all times of the year it could be seen on construction sites, vegetable gardens, and tree planting. He could be recognized by his wide embroidered belt. And what a wonderful preacher he was! His speech was correct, logically constructed, artistically designed, and reached to the depths of the soul. He was an erudite, knew a lot, was interested in everything, was not afraid of anyone or anything. Often during his sermons, Father John spoke about the monstrous crimes of the executioners of the Cheka... He touched a nerve, especially when he touched on the suffering of the people he revered. I remember how everyone cried at the sermon dedicated to the suffering and death of his deeply revered teacher and mentor, now glorified among the martyrs, Metropolitan Veniamin of Petrograd and Gdov” 1 .

In the 1920s The Pskov-Pechersk Holy Dormition Monastery has been transformed. A major overhaul of residential fraternal buildings was carried out, the Sretensky Monastery Church, the Assumption and St. Michael's Cathedrals were repaired and restored, a new stone staircase was built from St. Michael's Cathedral down to the center of the monastery. By 1927, electricity was installed in St. Michael's Cathedral.

At this time, young, energetic and educated novices enter the monastery. Among them were many officers of the Russian Imperial Army and the White movement. The example of the abbot of the monastery, a former warrior, gave confidence and hope to those Russian exiles who found themselves in difficult material and spiritual conditions in a foreign land. The number of the monastic brethren was replenished not only by the officers of the North-Western (General Yudenich’s army) who settled in Estonia. Letters addressed to the abbot of the monastery with a request to be accepted into the ranks of the brethren came from Paris, Harbin and other geographical parts of the Russian diaspora.

In 1924, Archimandrite John was consecrated as Bishop of Pechersk, vicar of Tallinn Metropolitan Alexander (Paulus). A year earlier - on July 7, 1923 - the Orthodox Church of Estonia, violating canonical conditions (without the knowledge of the Moscow Patriarchate), entered the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Since that time, Estonia has been divided into 2 dioceses: Tallinn (Estonian) and Narva (Russian). The abbot of the Pechersk Monastery experienced these changes with excitement, anticipating the coming trials.

It must be said that in addition to spiritual economic works, Bishop John, with his energetic activities in the fields of culture, education and charity, acquired personal authority in the Pechora region, and the monastery he headed became the center of the spiritual and social life of this region of the Estonian Republic. Bishop of Pechersk John (Bulin) himself was a member of the Pechersk Educational Society since 1920, was an honorary member of the Yuryevsky department of the Union of Russian Invalid Soldiers, and annually donated generously to the fund for disabled soldiers. Bishop John, being the spiritual trustee of scout troops in Pechory, was awarded the title of honorary scout in 1931. The monastery invariably participated in the annual celebration of the Day of Russian Culture, in singing festivals that brought together dozens of Russian choirs from all over the Baltics in Pechory.

Bishop John (Bulin) conducted active correspondence with Russian bishops and prominent figures of the Russian diaspora in Europe and America. Here are just a few of them: Metropolitan Evlogy (Georgievsky), Metropolitan Anthony (Khrapovitsky), Empress Maria Feodorovna and her daughter Vel. Princess Olga Alexandrovna. The monastery was visited by outstanding representatives of the Russian diaspora - thinkers and writers, artists and performers - I.A. Ilyin, L.F. Zurov, E.E. Klimov, V.V. Zenkovsky and others. The hospitable abbot of the monastery personally conducted excursions for welcome guests and pilgrims around the monastery, including presenting a unique collection of church values ​​and relics of the monastery sacristy.

It is especially noteworthy that the Pechersk Monastery and Bishop John personally in the late 1920s. warmly welcomed the Russian Student Christian Movement, a branch of which was active in the Pechora region in the 1920s and 30s. In July 1929, the summer congress of the RSHD in the Baltic States was held within the walls of the monastery. The chairman of the congress was L.A. Zander, along with him, other leaders of the Movement arrived in Pechory - I.A. Lagovsky, L.N. Liperovsky, V.V. Preobrazhensky, V.F. Buchholz, father Sergiy Chetverikov and others. Bishop John (Bulin) also took a very active part in the work of the congress. He not only showed himself to be a hospitable host - the leaders of the Movement were accommodated in the governor’s quarters, congress meetings were held on the territory of the monastery, circles and seminars were held, but he was also the “soul of the meeting,” as the participants in this significant event recalled. On the evening of August 4, in the cave church of the Assumption Cathedral of the monastery, Bishop John served a prayer service, thereby opening the second congress of the RSHD in the Baltics. Before the prayer service, Bishop John addressed the participants of the congress with a lively, heartfelt speech. Each day began with a liturgy in the monastery churches with the participation of young people, leaders of the Movement and the abbot of the monastery. The congress also closed with a common prayer with the monastery brethren and the governor, who addressed the Christian youth with a sermon on the apostolic words “It is good for us to be here.” According to L.A. Zander, Bishop John of Pechersk revealed himself to be a “close friend of the youth” 2.

In 1930, the 3rd Summer Congress of the RSHD in the Baltic States was held in the Pukhtitsa Monastery, also in Estonia. Bishop John joined the youth movement and actively participated in the work of the congress. According to the memoirs of the movement, largely thanks to the spiritual leadership of Bishop John, the congress turned into “... a great rise of faith and love... broke the ice of the coldest souls...” 3.

As often happens, after joy and inspiration come trials and suffering. The first alarm signal sounded in February 1928, after the demand of the Synod of the Estonian Orthodox Church about the need to register the property of the Pechersk Monastery in the name of the Synod. The brethren of the monastery and its abbot, as well as the majority of Orthodox residents of the Pechora region, opposed such claims. The conflict and hostility of the church leadership in Tallinn flared up over the position of Bishop John. This discontent was also caused by the fact that the Bishop of Pechersk actively participated in the public life of Estonia, defending the rights of Orthodox parishes and the Russian population in general. So in 1929, Bishop John was elected as a member of parliament, then 32 thousand Russians and 15 thousand representatives of the Orthodox Seto people voted for him. Thanks to the consistent line of defense of Orthodoxy by the Bishop of Pechersk, it was possible to defend the Cathedral of St., which was scheduled for demolition. blgv. book Alexander Nevsky in Tallinn.

In July 1932, the Council of the Estonian Orthodox Church decided to transfer the disobedient Bishop John to the vacant Narva See. The abbot was ordered to urgently leave the Pechersk Monastery and take over business in Narva. Bishop John refused to submit to Metropolitan Alexander of Tallinn and in December 1932 he was dismissed and banned from the priesthood. Bishop John filed a protest with the Synod, the alarmed residents of Pechory sent an appeal to Metropolitan Alexander signed by almost 10 thousand people, but on December 30, 1932, the disgraced bishop was declared not to serve in the Estonian Orthodox Church. Metropolitan Alexander (Paulus) excluded Archimandrite John (Bulin) from the brethren of the Pskov-Pechersk Monastery, despite the fact that he humbly asked to remain “at least a simple monk.”

On November 4, 1932, a bailiff arrived at the Pechersky Monastery to publicly expel Bishop John from the monastery. According to eyewitnesses, on this gloomy autumn day, many admirers of the beloved abbot, Bishop John, gathered at the monastery, many were crying. A legend has been preserved that when Bishop John was walking from the rector’s house along Assumption Square, a large puddle appeared in front of him, and then the elderly pious man took off his expensive fur coat and laid it under the bishop’s feet. He walked around the fur coat and just as calmly headed towards the exit.

The exiled Bishop John settled in his apartment with his mother on Smolenskaya Street. Despite the disgrace of the church authorities, friends, spiritual children and admirers constantly came to the Bulins’ house.

In January 1934, at the invitation of the Serbian Patriarch Varnava, Bishop John (Bulin) went abroad for 4.5 years. At this time, he visited the Ecumenical Patriarch with a request to intervene in the tense church situation in Estonia, but did not receive support. After this, Bishop John was warmly received by the head of the Karlovac Synod, Metropolitan Anthony (Khrapovitsky), visited the monasteries of the Orthodox East, gave lectures on the history of the Russian Orthodox Church, and studied icon painting from masters in the Serbian monastery of Rakovica. Bishop John received several invitations to occupy episcopal sees in Germany and North America 4 . However, after the death of Patriarch Barnabas, with whom Bishop John had ties of friendship, in the summer of 1938 he decided to return to his homeland in Pechory.

In the summer of 1940, according to the secret protocols of the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact, the independent Baltic republics were annexed to the USSR. In the autumn of the same year, mass arrests of all real and potential enemies of the Soviet system began. The Pechora region was not spared from the whirlwind of arrests. Along with Estonian citizens and public figures, the Russian population classified as “former” was repressed, including veterans of the White movement, intelligentsia, active figures in Russian educational societies, the leadership of the RSHD, and Orthodox clergy. One of the first to be arrested was Bishop John (Bulin). That same evening, October 18, 1940, many Pecheryans were arrested, including the subdeacon of Bishop John, N.P. Zlatinsky.

The arrest warrant for “citizen Bulin” stated the following: “... I. Bulin, a former white officer, being the Bishop of the Pechora Monastery, spoke against the Soviet government and the Communist Party in his sermons from the pulpit. The monastery itself was the headquarters from where spies and saboteurs were transferred to the USSR” 5.

According to the memoirs of Zlatinsky, who miraculously survived Stalin’s camps and exile, the investigation was particularly cruel, absurd and cynicistic. On April 8, 1941, the Leningrad Regional Court sentenced Bishop John to death. On July 30, 1941, the sentence was carried out.

Today, the memory of Bishop John (Bulin) in Pechory, and even in the Russian Orthodox Church, is gradually fading away, becoming a thing of the past historical events. One can only regret this, because with such bright, multi-faceted personalities, not only the spiritual heritage of the Orthodox Church in Russia is leaving us, but also the skill of recognizing Christ Himself in the faces of the righteous and saints is being lost, among whom is Bishop John of Pechersk.

On April 22, 1992, the prosecutor's office of the Pskov region rehabilitated citizen Nikolai Alexandrovich Bulin.

Konstantin Obozny,

head Department of Church History of the St. Philaret Institute

-------------------

1. Zotova T. When they take you away to eternity. Biography of Bishop John of Pechersk (Bulin). M., 2006. P. 53-54.

2. Plyukhanov B.V. RSHD in Latvia and Estonia. YMKA-Press, 1993. P. 101.

3. His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II. Orthodoxy in Estonia. P. 381. Quote. by: Zotova T. Decree. op. pp. 68-69.

4. At the same time, speeches appeared in defense of Bishop John, such as this:

"Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church in America

His Eminence

To the Most Reverend Alexander

Metropolitan of Revel and all Estonia

The Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church in America, meeting on February 8/21, 1933 at St. Tikhon's Monastery, decided:

To declare the most decisive protest against the forcible removal of the Russian Bishop John from the Pskov-Pechersk Monastery and the seizure by the Estonians of this ancient Russian folk shrine and to bring this protest to the attention of Your Eminence.

At the same time, the Council of Bishops expresses its deep regret that the persecution of the Russian Orthodox people begins in Estonia, where until now the Russian people lived better than in other countries in which parts of the Russian people found themselves after the war.

We hope that for the benefit of the Orthodox Church, as well as in order to maintain good relations between the Russian and Estonian peoples, the injustices caused to the Russians will be eliminated.

Metropolitan Platon

5. Zotova T. Decree. op. P. 185.

20 In February 1920, a new Vicar arrived at the monastery - Hieromonk John (Bulin). On December 23 (6) of the same year he was elevated to the rank of Archimandrite. In 1926 (April 12) he was consecrated Bishop in the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Tallinn (Revel). He headed the monastery until September 1932.

Bishop John (Nikolai Aleksandrovich Bulin) was born on March 1, 1893 into a working-class family. His ancestors came from the Don. Empress Elizabeth resettled 220 families from the Don to Ryapino (Estonia) to work in a paper mill. These settlers formed their own village, in which an Orthodox Church was built for them in the name of the righteous saints Zechariah and Elizabeth.

Nikolai Bulin graduated from the Riga Theological Seminary in 1915. In the same year he entered the St. Petersburg Theological Academy. He was taken to the front in 1916. In 1917, by order of the Commander-in-Chief, Krylenko was released from the army and returned to the Academy. In 1918, in his second year at the Academy, Nikolai Bulin was tonsured a monk with the name John. Monk John’s tonsure was performed by the Rector of the Academy, Bishop Anastassy, ​​and on May 12 of the same year he ordained him as a deacon in the academic church. On August 12, 1918, during the Divine Liturgy in the Holy Trinity Cathedral of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, he was ordained hieromonk. The ordination was performed by His Eminence Benjamin, Metropolitan of Petrograd and Gdov.

At the end of 1918, Hieromonk John returned to his homeland and was appointed parish priest by Archbishop of Pskov Eusebius in Zachernye.

Hieromonk John turned out to be an energetic Vicar of the Pskov-Pechersk Monastery. He actively took up its restoration. The situation of the monastery was very difficult, the monastery was almost in decline, was destroyed and brought to a disastrous situation. The farm, which was the only source of existence for the monastery, was destroyed. The land was taken away, buildings fell into disrepair, roofs leaked, walls collapsed. The refectory was used as a barracks for a company of Estonian troops. The upper floor of the abbot's house was allocated for the premises of the justice of the peace. The justice of the peace lived there. And the ground floor of the house was occupied by the land management commission. The governor huddled in a small room in the Lazarevsky building.

There were few brethren: elderly monks, several deacons, novices - almost the entire staff.

But through the efforts of Bishop John, everything gradually began to take its proper form. A major overhaul of all residential buildings was carried out after the eviction of lay tenants. The refectory and the abbot's house were renovated. In 1924, a major overhaul of the Sretensky Church was carried out, and in 1927, a major overhaul of the Assumption Cathedral was carried out. A major interior renovation was carried out in the same Assumption Church. St. Michael's Cathedral has been thoroughly renovated inside. In 1930, a new stone staircase was built instead of a wooden one - a descent from St. Michael's Cathedral down to the center of the monastery.

In August 1929, the Second Congress of the RSHD was held in the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery. The rector of the monastery, Bishop John, was the soul of the meeting, and largely thanks to his spiritual leadership, the congress, according to one of its participants, turned into “a great rise of faith and love... broke the ice of the coldest souls, making believers of non-believers, indicated the meaning of life to those who sought him and revealed... at his highest point the dazzling truth of the triumph of Orthodoxy."

The second merit of Bishop John, in addition to putting the monastery in order, was his intercession as a deputy of the Estonian Parliament for the Russian churches and for the disadvantaged in this difficult time. There were many national minorities in the Republic of Estonia, but most of them were Russians. National minorities were protected by their states: Germany stood up for the Germans, Poland for the Poles, Sweden for the Swedes, but there was no one to stand up for the Russians. And Bishop John took upon himself this cross of defense of disadvantaged Russian compatriots and Russian churches. And this is his greatest service to his Motherland. In the Pechora region there were 32,000 Russians and another 15,000 Setos, and all of them were Orthodox, and during the elections to Parliament they voted for Bishop John. And he justified their trust. When the issue of closing the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Tallinn was brought up for decision by the Estonian Parliament, Bishop John spoke out in its defense. Despite strong pressure from supporters of the destruction of the Orthodox cathedral, the bill was rejected.

On July 7, 1923, the Orthodox Church of Estonia entered the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, which contradicted the spirit of Christian love and violated the generally accepted principles of church law. Very characteristic of the internal state of the Orthodox Church in Estonia during its stay under the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople was the conflict that arose in the late 20s. in connection with the property status of the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery. Since ancient times, the most valuable movable and immovable property of the monastery was its property. Based on the law of the Republic of Estonia on the abolition of estate property, adopted on November 12, 1925, the Synod of the Orthodox Church in Estonia in February 1928 demanded that the Abbot of the monastery, Bishop of Pechersk John (Bulin), register the property in the name of the Synod, so that, as stated, it would not be subject to alienation in favor of the state. Bishop John, the brethren of the monastery and the Orthodox population of the Pechora region and Estonia perceived this as an encroachment on monastic property and opposed the law.

The Council of the Orthodox Church in Estonia, held in June 1932 in Tallinn, by the votes of the Estonian majority of its members, decided to transfer Bishop John of Pechersk to the Narva See, which had been vacant since 1927. Contrary to the protest of the Right Reverend, he was ordered to leave the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery. Bishop John (Bulin) was dismissed in December 1932 and banned from the priesthood.

When Estonia became part of the USSR in 1940, he was arrested on October 18, and on April 8, 1941, the Leningrad Regional Court, under Article 58-4 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR, sentenced Bishop John to capital punishment - execution. The sentence was carried out on July 30, 1941 in the city of Leningrad. On April 22, 1992, Bishop John was rehabilitated.

Is it true that executioners from Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan were sent on business trips to other union republics, where for years there were no people willing to carry out the “tower”? Is it true that in the Baltic states no one was executed at all, and all those sentenced to capital punishment were taken to Minsk to be shot?

Is it true that the executioners were paid substantial bonuses for each person executed? And is it true that it was not customary to shoot women in the Soviet Union? During the post-Soviet period, so many common myths were created around the “tower” that it is hardly possible to figure out what is true in them and what is speculation without painstaking work in the archives, which can take several decades. There is no complete clarity either with the pre-war executions or with the post-war ones. But the worst situation is with the data on how death sentences were carried out in the 60–80s.

As a rule, convicts were executed in pre-trial detention centers. Each union republic had at least one such special-purpose pre-trial detention center. There were two of them in Ukraine, three in Azerbaijan, and four in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. Today, death sentences are carried out only in one single Soviet-era pre-trial detention center - in the Pishchalovsky central prison in Minsk, also known as “Volodarka”. This is a unique place, the only one in Europe. About 10 people a year are executed there. But if it is relatively easy to count the execution detention centers in the Soviet republics, even the most trained historian can hardly say with confidence how many such specialized detention centers there were in the RSFSR. For example, until recently it was believed that in Leningrad in the 60-80s, convicts were not executed at all - there was nowhere. But it turned out that this was not the case. Not long ago, documentary evidence was discovered in the archives that 15-year-old teenager Arkady Neyland, sentenced to capital punishment, was shot in the summer of 1964 in the Northern capital, and not in Moscow or Minsk, as previously thought. Therefore, a “prepared” pre-trial detention center was found after all. And Neyland was hardly the only one who was shot there.

There are other common myths about the “tower”. For example, it is generally accepted that since the late 50s the Baltics did not have their own execution squads at all, so all those sentenced to capital punishment from Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia were transported to Minsk for execution. This is not entirely true: death sentences were also carried out in the Baltic states. But the performers were actually invited from outside. Mainly from Azerbaijan. Still, three firing squads for one small republic is too much. Convicts were executed mainly in the Bailov prison in Baku, and the shoulder craftsmen from Nakhichevan were often unemployed. Their salaries were still “dripping” - the members of the firing squad received approximately 200 rubles a month, but at the same time no bonuses for “execution”, nor quarterly. And this was a lot of money - the quarterly amount was approximately 150-170 rubles, and “for performance” they paid one hundred members of the brigade and 150 directly to the performer. So we went on business trips to earn extra money. More often - to Latvia and Lithuania, less often - to Georgia, Moldova and Estonia.

Another common myth is that in the last decades of the Union’s existence, women were not sentenced to death. They sentenced. In open sources you can find information about three such executions. In 1979, collaborator Antonina Makarova was shot, in 1983, plunderer of socialist property Berta Borodkina, and in 1987, poisoner Tamara Ivanyutina. And this is against the backdrop of 24,422 death sentences handed down between 1962 and 1989! So, only men were shot? Hardly. In particular, the verdicts of currency traders Oksana Sobinova and Svetlana Pinsker (Leningrad), Tatyana Vnuchkina (Moscow), Yulia Grabovetskaya (Kyiv), handed down in the mid-60s, are still shrouded in secrecy.

They were sentenced to the “tower”, but executed or still pardoned, it’s hard to say. Their names are not among the 2,355 pardoned. This means that most likely they were shot after all.

The third myth is that people became executioners, so to speak, at the call of their hearts. In the Soviet Union, executioners were appointed - and that’s all. No volunteers. You never know what’s on their minds – what if they’re perverts? Even an ordinary OBKhSS employee could be appointed as an executioner. Among law enforcement officers, as a rule, those who were dissatisfied with their salaries and who urgently needed to improve their living conditions were selected. They offered me a job. They invited me for an interview. If the subject approached, he was processed. It must be said that Soviet personnel officers worked excellently: from 1960 to 1990 there was not a single case in which an executioner resigned of his own free will. And there was certainly not a single case of suicide among the execution staff - the Soviet executioners had strong nerves. “Yes, I was the one who was appointed,” recalled the former head of the institution UA-38/1 UITU of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Azerbaijan SSR, Khalid Yunusov, who was responsible for carrying out more than three dozen death sentences. – I caught bribe-takers six years ago. I’m tired of it, I’ve only made enemies for myself.”

How, in fact, did the execution procedure itself take place? After the court announced the verdict and before it was carried out, as a rule, several years passed. All this time, the condemned man was kept in solitary confinement in the prison of the city in which the trial was taking place. When all submitted requests for clemency were rejected, the condemned were transported to a special detention center - as a rule, a few days before the sad procedure. It happened that prisoners languished in anticipation of execution for several months, but these were rare exceptions. Prisoners had their heads shaved and dressed in clothes made of striped fabric (a light gray stripe alternated with a dark gray stripe). The convicts were not informed that their last request for clemency was rejected.

Meanwhile, the head of the pre-trial detention center was assembling his firing squad. In addition to the doctor and the executioner, it included an employee of the prosecutor's office and a representative of the operational information center of the Internal Affairs Directorate. These five gathered in a specially designated room. First, the prosecutor's office employee got acquainted with the personal file of the convicted person. Then the so-called supervisory inspectors, two or three people, brought the convict into the room in handcuffs. In films and books, there is usually a passage in which the death row inmate is told that all his requests for clemency have been rejected. In fact, the person departing on his last journey was never informed about this. They asked what his name was, where he was born, what article he was under. They offered to sign several protocols. Then they reported that they would need to draw up another petition for pardon - in the next room where the deputies were sitting, and the papers would need to be signed in front of them. The trick, as a rule, worked flawlessly: those sentenced to death cheerfully walked towards the deputies.

And there were no deputies outside the door of the next cell - the performer was standing there. As soon as the condemned man entered the room, a shot followed in the back of the head. More precisely, “to the left occipital part of the head in the area of ​​the left ear,” as required by the instructions. The suicide bomber fell and a control shot was fired. The dead man's head was wrapped in a rag and the blood was washed off - there was a specially equipped blood drain in the room. The doctor came in and pronounced death. It is noteworthy that the executioner never shot the victim with a pistol - only with a small-caliber rifle. They say that they shot from Makarov and TT guns exclusively in Azerbaijan, but the destructive power of the weapon was such that at close range the convicts’ heads were literally blown off. And then it was decided to shoot the convicts using revolvers from the Civil War - they had a more gentle fight. By the way, only in Azerbaijan were those sentenced to execution tightly tied up before the procedure, and only in this republic was it customary to announce to the condemned that all their requests for clemency had been rejected. Why this is so is unknown. The binding of the victims affected them so strongly that every fourth died of a broken heart.

It is also noteworthy that the prosecutor’s office never signed documents on the execution of the sentence before the execution (as prescribed by the instructions) - only after. They said it was a bad omen, worse than ever. Next, the deceased was placed in a pre-prepared coffin and taken to the cemetery, to a special plot, where they were buried under nameless plaques. No names, no surnames - just a serial number. The firing squad was given a certificate, and that day all four of its members received time off.

In Ukrainian, Belarusian and Moldavian pre-trial detention centers, as a rule, they made do with one executioner. But in the Georgian special detention centers - in Tbilisi and Kutaisi - there were a good dozen of them. Of course, most of these “executioners” never executed anyone - they were only listed, receiving a large salary on the payroll. But why did the law enforcement system need to maintain such huge and unnecessary ballast? They explained it this way: it is not possible to keep secret which of the pre-trial detention center employees shoots the condemned. The accountant will always let something slip! So, in order to mislead even the accountant, Georgia introduced such a strange payment system.