‘The Trial Of The Sixteen’1936

Shane McNamara &

Ciarán Rowe

In 1936, Lev Kamenev, Gregory Zinoviev and 14 other leading

Bolsheviks were put on trial, using Sergei Kirov’s assassination in 1934 as a pretext

for rounding up suspects

Before the trial, the defendants were interrogated by the NKVD to get the required confessions

The trial was carefully planned and staged-managed.

The trial opened on the 19th of August 1936, in the October Hall in the House of Unions Moscow

The 350 spectators were mainly NKVD in plain clothes, foreign journalists and diplomats.

The defendants were dressed in ill-fitted old clothes to increase their humiliation.

To reinforce the impression of their guilt the defendants were guarded by NKVD troops with fixed bayonets.

It was alleged that the defendants had repeatedly attempted to kill Stalin and other leaders.

The evidence was very weak. One defendant even confessed to being involved in the murder of Kirov when he was already in prison.

Appeals for mercy were rejected and all 16 men were shot and their property confiscated.