Trial of the 16

a trial involving members of the People’s Will, held in the St. Petersburg Military District Court from Oct. 25 (Nov. 6) to Oct. 30 (Nov. 11), 1880. The central figures in the trial were A. I. Zundelevich, A. A. Kviatkovskii, and S. G. Shiriaev, members of the Executive Committee of the People’s Will. N. K. Bukh, S. A. Ivanova, and A. K. Presniakov were also tried, among others. All the defendants were accused of membership in the People’s Will. Kviatkovskii was also charged with planning the attempts on the tsar’s life of Apr. 2, 1879, and Feb. 5, 1880, and Shiriaev was accused of complicity in the assassination attempt of Nov. 19, 1879. The defendants conducted themselves courageously. It was later found that I. F. Okladskii was the agent provocateur. Kviatkovskii and Shiriaev gave speeches setting out a revolutionary program.

Kviatkovskii and Presniakov were sentenced to death, four of the defendants to hard labor for life, six to four to 20 years’ hard labor, and four to exile in Siberia. The trial had repercussions in Russia and abroad.