Multan Affair

a case lasting from 1892 to 1896 and involving a group of Udmurt (Votyak) peasants in the village of Staryi Multan (Malmyzh District, Viatka Province) who were charged with making human sacrifices to pagan gods. The slanderous charge was made by the police authorities in order to arouse ethnic discord. After a preliminary investigation lasting 29 months, ten persons were brought to trial, which was held in December 1894 in the city of Malmyzh. Of the ten defendants, three were acquitted and the remaining seven were convicted of ritual homicide and sentenced to hard labor. ʘnly at the third judicial examination, held in May-June 1896 in the city of Mamadysh (Kazan Province), were the accused acquitted. A large role in the acquittal was played by V. G. Korolenko, who in the press and at the final judicial examination came out in defense of the accused. A. F. Koni’s final defense summation also contributed to the acquittal.