Nikolai Krylenko

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Nikolai Krylenko
Николай Крыленко
Krylenko in 1918
People's Commissar for Justice of the USSR
In office 20 July 1936 – 15 September 1937
Premier	Vyacheslav Molotov
Preceded by	None—position established
Succeeded by	Nikolay Rychkov
Prosecutor General of the Russian SFSR
In office May 1929 – 5 May 1931
Premier	Alexey Rykov Vyacheslav Molotov
Preceded by	Nikolai Janson
Succeeded by	Andrey Vyshinsky
Chairman of the Supreme Court of the Soviet Union
In office 28 November 1923 – 2 February 1924
Succeeded by	Alexander Vinokurov
Personal details
Born	2 May 1885 Bekhteevo, Sychyovsky Uyezd, Smolensk Governorate, Russian Empire
Died	29 July 1938(1938-07-29) (aged 53) Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Political party	RSDLP (Bolsheviks) (1904–1918) Russian Communist Party (1918–1938)
Spouse	Elena Rozmirovich
Relations	Elena Krylenko (sister)
Occupation	Lawyer, theorist, writer

Nikolai Vasilyevich Krylenko (Russian: Никола́й Васи́льевич Крыле́нко, IPA: [krɨˈlʲenkə]; 2 May 1885 – 29 July 1938) was an Old Bolshevik and Soviet politician, military commander, and jurist. Krylenko served in a variety of posts in the Soviet legal system, rising to become People's Commissar for Justice and Prosecutor General of the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic. He was executed during the Great Purge.

Krylenko was an exponent of socialist legality and the theory that political considerations, rather than criminal guilt or innocence, should guide the application of punishment. Although participating in the Show Trials and political repression of the late 1920s and early 1930s, Krylenko was later caught up as a victim and arrested during the Great Purge of the late 1930s. Following interrogation and torture^{[citation needed]} by the NKVD, Krylenko confessed to extensive involvement in wrecking and anti-Soviet agitation. After a trial of 20 minutes, he was sentenced to death by the Military Collegium of the Soviet Supreme Court, and executed immediately afterwards.