The Features of the Formation of the Camp Justice of the USSR (1944–1959)

Abstract

In modern historiography, much less attention has been paid to problems of the development of bodies of the camp (penitentiary) justice, than to activities of places of detention. Meanwhile, camp courts belonged to bodies of special justice along with military tribunals and were an important element of the state mechanism. This research identifies the main stages of the formation of the camp justice bodies and determines the features of their functioning. The article defines the structure and number of camp ships, as well as elements of mechanism of their organization. For the first time, the main stages in the development of bodies of camp justice are highlighted: 1944–1948 (the formation of this system), 1949–1952 (relatively stable existence), and 1953– 1959 (period of sharp reduction and elimination). Plans to reform the system of camp courts are discussed. The initiator of the creation of the system of camp courts was the leadership of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs. Among the organizational features of the functioning of these bodies, the asymmetric nature of the system of the bodies of the camp justice is named for the first time. Along with the camp (penitentiary) courts, military tribunals of the NKVD/MVD troops continued to operate, and special camp courts with wider jurisdiction operated in the structure of special buildings, which considered not only criminal, but also civil cases. The peculiarities of the functioning of these bodies include: a weak material and technical base, the struggle of clans in the leadership of justice, a high level of conflict in the system of camp justice, and the minor role of lawyers in the process and their dependence on the camp administration and the court.