Andrey Vyshinsky was a Soviet legal official and diplomat, born in Odessa in the Russian Empire on December 10, 1883, and died on November 22, 1954, who served as Procurator General of the Soviet Union from 1935 to 1939, during which he acted as chief state prosecutor in Stalin's Moscow Trials, and later as Soviet foreign minister from 1949 to 1953 and permanent representative to the United Nations. His legal treatise, The Theory of Judicial Proofs in Soviet Law, which won the Stalin Prize in 1947, supplied the theoretical justification for the confession based prosecutions of the Moscow Trials, developing the doctrine that a defendant's own confession, rather than independent physical or documentary evidence, could stand as the strongest form of proof available to a Soviet court, a position later summarized as treating confession as the queen of evidence. As director of the Institute of State and Law at the Academy of Sciences, Vyshinsky shaped how Soviet legal theory justified subordinating court procedure to the political objectives of the state, a model of prosecution built around extracted confessions rather than contested evidence. His legal doctrine and courtroom conduct during the Moscow Trials were cited internationally as a case study in the abuse of legal process, a legacy that surfaced again in international discussions of legal procedure and evidence at the Nuremberg trials after the war.
Facts
RoleSoviet politician, jurist and diplomat 1 Nationality / Jurisdiction Place of Death Role
Role (category) Role (category) Role (category) Classification
Field of Law FAQs
How did Andrey Vyshinsky's theory of evidence treat a defendant's confession?
He treated a confession as the most important evidence in cases against the state.
In his book on Soviet evidence law, Vyshinsky held that the defendant's statement, especially in cases of crimes against the state, should be regarded as the most important evidence. The Library of Congress Law Library notes that, relying on a confession, a prosecutor could extract from the statement the content that fit the prosecution's position. The same book states that the Soviet court is not a research lab required to establish truth through verification and confirmation of all available evidence, and that its task is to decide on the probability that a crime was committed based on accepted evidence.
Connections
In Legal System
Source Andrey Vyshinsky (Wikipedia)
In the Other Atlases
Nationality
Also in Geography Atlas: the nationality of this subject.
Sources
1. Andrey Vyshinsky (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIntroduction, gender
He is best known as a state prosecutor of Joseph Stalin's Moscow Trials and in the Nuremberg trials.
Introduction
Andrey Yanuaryevich Vyshinsky (Russian: Андре́й Януа́рьевич Выши́нский; Polish: Andrzej Wyszyński) (10 December [O.S. 28 November] 1883 - 22 November 1954) was a Soviet politician, jurist and diplomat.
Introduction, field of law
He is best known as a state prosecutor of Joseph Stalin's Moscow Trials and in the Nuremberg trials.
In Legal System: Law of the Soviet Union, Wikipedia lead sentence
was a Soviet politician
View the Source 2. Wikidata: Andrey Vyshinsky
Wikidata Q155860, P27 country of citizenship claim
P27 (country of citizenship): Soviet Union
Wikidata Q155860, P569 date of birth claim (year)
P569 (date of birth): 1883
Wikidata Q155860, P569 date of birth claim (full date)
P569 (date of birth): 1883-12-10
Wikidata Q155860, P570 date of death claim (year)
P570 (date of death): 1954
Wikidata Q155860, P570 date of death claim (full date)
P570 (date of death): 1954-11-22
Wikidata Q155860, P19 place of birth claim
P19 (place of birth): Odesa
Wikidata Q155860, P20 place of death claim
P20 (place of death): New York City
View the SourceReader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.