Execution as the supreme punishment of fugitive Cossacks in the middle of the XIX century

Abstract

This article highlights the theme of applying capital punishment to fugitive Cossacks of the Caucasian Linear Cossack Army in the middle of the XIX century. The purpose of the article is to identify the causes and circumstances of the execution of Cossacks of the Caucasian linear Cossack army in the middle of the XIX century. Based on the investigation into the deserters YakovTynyansky and Ivan Khanin, the reasons for the death penalty for these defectors were identified. Hiding in the mountains of the Northwest Caucasus, they took part in raids on Russian settlements. In addition, Ivan Khanin confessed to robberies, murders and abductions in order to obtain a ransom of the girl from the village of Kavkazskaya. The findings noted that such crimes were a kind of “red line”, having crossed that, the fugitive Cossacks could no longer count on the indulgence of the authorities. The military administration took measures to make the execution of capital punishment as public as possible. Analysis of the legal component of the affairs of runaway Cossacks and the memoirs of a contemporary allowed the author to conclude that in the middle of the 19th century a special legal regime of wartime was not introduced in the North Caucasus. This work is based on the principles of historicism, objectivity and systematic.