Iona Nikitchenko
Encyclopedia
Major-General Iona Timofeevich Nikitchenko (Russian: Иона Тимофеевич Никитченко) (June 28, 1895, Don Voisko Oblast, Russian Empire
– April 22, 1967, Moscow
, Russian SFSR) was a judge
of the Supreme Court of the Soviet Union.
Iona was born to a peasant family in khutor
Tuzlukov (now Rostov Oblast
). He studied at his local Agricultural Institute and from 1916 was a Bolshevik
. His court experience started in May 1920 when he was appointed as the chairman-deputy of the Military Court of Semirechye Army Group during the Civil War. During the Civil War he participated on the frontlines in the Middle Asia. In 1924 was appointed as the member of the Military Court Collegiate of the Moscow Military District.
Nikitchenko presided over some of the most notorious of Joseph Stalin
's show trial
s during the Great Purge
s of 1936 to 1938, where he among other things sentenced Kamenev
and Zinoviev
.
. He was also the Soviet Union's judge at the Nuremberg trials
, and was President for the session at Berlin
. Nikitchenko's prejudices were evident from the outset. Before the Tribunal convened, Nikitchenko explained the Soviet perspective of the trials:
His statements in this respect call to mind the statements of US Supreme Court Chief Justice Harlan Fiske Stone
who wrote "Chief US prosecutor Jackson is away conducting his high-grade lynching party in Nuremberg, I don't mind what he does to the Nazis, but I hate to see the pretense that he is running a court and proceeding according to common law. This is a little too sanctimonious a fraud to meet my old-fashioned ideas." Nikitchenko was thus far from alone in viewing the Nuremberg trials as a farcical cloaking in law of the process of putting to death a large number of notorious villains.
Nikitchenko dissented against the three acquittals and argued for a death sentence for Rudolf Hess
. Nikitchenko said, in the lead-up to the trials, "If... the judge is supposed to be impartial, it would only lead to unnecessary delays." Hess, formerly Hitler's deputy fuhrer, the man charged by Hitler with implementing Nazi Germany's Nuremberg laws, the man who signed the decree establishing the notorious German occupation government of Poland, and since May 1941 in a British Prison, was sentenced to life in prison by the tribunal. In this respect, he was by far the most senior surviving Nazi official to escape a death sentence.
Nikitchecko feared a compromise on too lenient a level. At the point of final deliberation he reexamined Hess' case and voted for a life sentence so that the opportunity for Hess to get away with a lesser degree of punishment did not occur.He ended up on a farm in his hometown.
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...
– April 22, 1967, 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...
, Russian SFSR) was a judge
Judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...
of the Supreme Court of the Soviet Union.
Iona was born to a peasant family in khutor
Khutor
Khutor or khutir is usually taken to refer to a single-homestead rural settlement of Eastern Europe.In Cossack-settled lands that encompassed today's Ukraine, Kuban, and the lower Don river basin the word khutor was used to describe new settlements which had detached themselves from stanitsas...
Tuzlukov (now Rostov Oblast
Rostov Oblast
Rostov Oblast is a federal subject of Russia , located in the Southern Federal District. Rostov Oblast has an area of and a population of making it the sixth most populous federal subject in Russia...
). He studied at his local Agricultural Institute and from 1916 was a Bolshevik
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...
. His court experience started in May 1920 when he was appointed as the chairman-deputy of the Military Court of Semirechye Army Group during the Civil War. During the Civil War he participated on the frontlines in the Middle Asia. In 1924 was appointed as the member of the Military Court Collegiate of the Moscow Military District.
Nikitchenko presided over some of the most notorious of 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...
's 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 during the Great Purge
Great Purge
The Great Purge was a series of campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin from 1936 to 1938...
s of 1936 to 1938, where he among other things sentenced Kamenev
Lev Kamenev
Lev Borisovich Kamenev , born Rozenfeld , was a Bolshevik revolutionary and a prominent Soviet politician. He was briefly head of state of the new republic in 1917, and from 1923-24 the acting Premier in the last year of Lenin's life....
and Zinoviev
Grigory Zinoviev
Grigory Yevseevich Zinoviev , born Ovsei-Gershon Aronovich Radomyslsky Apfelbaum , was a Bolshevik revolutionary and a Soviet Communist politician...
.
Nuremberg Trial
Nikitchenko was one of the three main drafters of the London CharterLondon Charter of the International Military Tribunal
The London Charter of the International Military Tribunal was the decree issued on August 8, 1945, that set down the laws and procedures by which the Nuremberg trials were to be conducted.The charter stipulated that crimes of the European Axis Powers could be tried...
. He was also the Soviet Union's judge at the Nuremberg trials
Nuremberg Trials
The Nuremberg Trials were a series of military tribunals, held by the victorious Allied forces of World War II, most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of the defeated Nazi Germany....
, and was President for the session at Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
. Nikitchenko's prejudices were evident from the outset. Before the Tribunal convened, Nikitchenko explained the Soviet perspective of the trials:
"We are dealing here with the chief war criminals who have already been convicted and whose conviction has been already announced by both the Moscow and Crimea [Yalta] declarations by the heads of the [Allied] governments.... The whole idea is to secure quick and just punishment for the crime."
His statements in this respect call to mind the statements of US Supreme Court Chief Justice Harlan Fiske Stone
Harlan Fiske Stone
Harlan Fiske Stone was an American lawyer and jurist. A native of New Hampshire, he served as the dean of Columbia Law School, his alma mater, in the early 20th century. As a member of the Republican Party, he was appointed as the 52nd Attorney General of the United States before becoming an...
who wrote "Chief US prosecutor Jackson is away conducting his high-grade lynching party in Nuremberg, I don't mind what he does to the Nazis, but I hate to see the pretense that he is running a court and proceeding according to common law. This is a little too sanctimonious a fraud to meet my old-fashioned ideas." Nikitchenko was thus far from alone in viewing the Nuremberg trials as a farcical cloaking in law of the process of putting to death a large number of notorious villains.
Nikitchenko dissented against the three acquittals and argued for a death sentence for Rudolf Hess
Rudolf Hess
Rudolf Walter Richard Hess was a prominent Nazi politician who was Adolf Hitler's deputy in the Nazi Party during the 1930s and early 1940s...
. Nikitchenko said, in the lead-up to the trials, "If... the judge is supposed to be impartial, it would only lead to unnecessary delays." Hess, formerly Hitler's deputy fuhrer, the man charged by Hitler with implementing Nazi Germany's Nuremberg laws, the man who signed the decree establishing the notorious German occupation government of Poland, and since May 1941 in a British Prison, was sentenced to life in prison by the tribunal. In this respect, he was by far the most senior surviving Nazi official to escape a death sentence.
Nikitchecko feared a compromise on too lenient a level. At the point of final deliberation he reexamined Hess' case and voted for a life sentence so that the opportunity for Hess to get away with a lesser degree of punishment did not occur.He ended up on a farm in his hometown.