Criminal Procedure Code of the RSFSR

(Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic), 1934 and 1952

first added 991030
latest change 991117
latest minor change y10220

(Russian: "Ugolovno-Processual'nyj Kodeks RSFSR")

Of somewhat less historical interest than the "Criminal Code," the "Criminal Procedure Code" outlined procedures for conducting criminal investigations, trials, and appeals. Like the "Criminal Code," it was largely inaccessible to the general public, and was rarely, if ever, successfully invoked by a defendant.

The most distinctive portion was Articles 466 to 470, prescribing summary procedures for those accused of "terrorism" (Criminal Code Articles 58-8 and 58-11): ten days maximum for the investigation, one day's notice of the charges and trial, no lawyer at the trial, no appeals allowed, and executions to be carried out immediately. Only slightly more generous terms are prescribed for accused "wreckers" and "saboteurs" (Articles 471-473).

(Editor's aside -- Maybe this was what the Massachusetts "Supreme Judicial Court," a gang of hacks and second-raters, had in mind when they invoked "finality" to keep the obviously innocent Cheryl Amirault LeFave locked up in the notorious Fells Acres day-care ritual-abuse case.

Modified in the years following Stalin's death, the RSFSR Criminal Procedure Code was finally replaced in 1958.

Russian version of some Criminal Procedure Code articles referred to by Solzhenitsyn.

Table of contents (for now only in Russian) for the Criminal Procedure Code.

The Maksim Moshkov on-line library, has a full Russian-language version of the Russian Federation criminal-procedure code at URL:
http://lib.ru/lat/PRAWO/upk.txt It retains some elements of the Soviet criminal-procedure code.

Index to legal codes available at this site

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