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In 1955, during Khruschev's thaw, an 80-year-old Vladivostok woman wrote a letter. Eighteen years ago, the NKVD arrested her daughter, who was never heard from again. These three documents released by the Federal Security Bureau tell a story of a conviction rammed through by the secret police, and of a dark retribution that befell the investigator as the Soviet maw began devouring its own.

The Vladivostok News has expunged the names in keeping with the requirements of the FSB.

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To: the Pacific Fleet Prosecutor
From: -------------------------------------
Date: Oct. 12, 1955

Letter of request

My daughter, Malania -------------------, was born in 1903 and was arrested in 1957. In approximately October of the same year, she was convicted by three judges. I have no idea why she was convicted, what the sentence was, and what prison she was sent to.
Eighteen and a half years have passed since then, but I still have the same questions. I have tried to find my daughter many times, but none of my attempts was successful. I am 80 years old and don't have many years left to live. That is why I beg you to help me find my daughter, and, if she was not guilty, to rehabilitate her.

Please inform me of the results. My address is -- Pionerskaya St., Vladivostok.

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Conclusion
Approved by Col. ---------------------------------------------------, deputy general military prosecutor

Secret
Copy No. 1

To: The Military Board of the USSR Supreme Court

Nov. 12, 1956
Moscow

On March 13, 1938, the assizes of the Military Board of the USSR Supreme Court sentenced Malania ------------------- to capital punishment based on Clause 17-58-8 and 58-11 of the Criminal Code. She was born in 1903, was not a member of the Communist Part. Her occupation was housewife.

The court found her and her husband guilty in close relations with members of an anti-Soviet terrorist organization in 1933. Her task with the organization was active assistance in purchasing weaponry from the German Consulate for conducting terrorist acts against the leaders of the Communist Party and Soviet Government.

An additional investigation, based on clause 373-377 of the Criminal Code was carried out and revealed that there was no material evidence that her husband had told her to get involved with weapons. According to documents in the case, her husband asked another man, who was serving in the army at that time, to find bullets for a pistol owned by him or to exchange that pistol for another one. The woman had nothing to do with the deal.

During the preliminary investigation, neither the woman nor any other arrested people said anything about a conspiratorial organization, and they were not even questioned about it. Only at the court session did the woman say she was a member of an anti-Soviet organization. However, the court didn't pay any attention to the fact, and she wasn't even questioned about the organization, its members, or how she became one of them. In the protocol of the court session, her name was written wrongly. She was called Maria instead of Malania.

Under the circumstances, her deposition in court cannot be considered seriously.

At the preliminary inquest, witnesses said that her husband was spying for the Germans with the assistance of a worker in the German Consulate in Vladivostok. However, at the confrontations, he did not plead guilty to spying. He died on Oct. 17, 1937, in prison. It is impossible to find his case in the archive.

In 1940, the NKVD officer who investigated the case was charged with using illegal methods and forging the cases.

Therefore we have learned that Malania ------------------- was groundlessly convicted.

Based on the aforewritten, and according to Clause 378 of the Criminal Code, the verdict of the Military Board of the USSR Supreme Court from March 13, 1938, regarding Malania ------------------- should be canceled, and the case against her should be dropped according to Clause 4-5 of the Criminal Code.

[signed]

Lieutenant Col. ---------------------------------------------------, Military Prosecutor

Lieutenant Col. --------------------------------------------, Senior Assistant to the General Military Prosecutor

Nov. 5, 1956

Note: The mother of the convicted person lives on Pionerskaya Street, Vladivostok

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Case No. 0032-40
Secret

Verdict No. 24
In the name of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

At a closed session on March 37, 1940, the military tribunal of the Primorye NKVD, consisting of Chairman -----------------------------------------, Military Lawyer of the Second Rank; Sergeant of Federal Security ----------------------------------, and Secretary -----------------------------------------, head of the Fourth Department of the Primorye NKVD.

The defendant was born in 1906 in the Byelorussian village of Smolevichi, went to secondary school, married, and had never been convicted before. He was a member of the Community Party and had been working the NKVD since 1930.

The court has learned that in July of 1938, the defendant executed a criminal order from the ex-head of the Primorye NKVD. He groundlessly arrested city Communist Party leaders, approximately 40 people, and accused them of counterrevolutionary activity. During the investigation, he physically coerced them to confess to crimes they hadn't committed. He also introduced physical coercion as a method of interrogation. The illegally arrested leaders were set free after a government and party decree was issued on Nov. 17, 1938. The court found the defendant guilty of abusing power, and according to clause 193-17A of the Criminal Code, sentenced him to 10 years at a corrective labor prison and deprived him of his military rank. The sentence shall begin March 26, 1939 [including time already served]. The court verdict can be appealed with the Khabarovsky District NKVD Military Tribunal within 72 hours after this verdict.

This copy is valid.

[signed] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Major, Assistant to the Fleet Prosecutor