Show Trial Quotes

“But just take the jurists' side for a moment: why, in fact, should a trial be supposed to have two possible outcomes when our general elections are conducted on the basis of one candidate? An acquittal is, in fact, unthinkable from the economic point of view! It would mean that the informers, the Security officers, the Interrogators, the prosecutor's staff, the internal guard in the prison, and the convoy had all worked to no purpose.”
― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago

“I asked nothing more than to be judged justly. My act didn’t always play well with my audience, and the reviews (which came in the form of verdicts) often panned my performance. In the end, however, the theater company of justice decided that, cost what it may, that role would belong to me for all time, even after the production had finished its run, and no more performances were scheduled. Playing “out of character” had therefore been my way of choosing freedom.”
― Massimo Carlotto, Il fuggiasco

“If your case, as a politically repressed person, is reviewed by the Special Council, you are almost guaranteed the standard sentence: ten years in labor camps plus three years’ loss of civil rights. The Special Council delivers verdicts in batches, so it simply does not have time to examine each case in detail. But if a judicial panel hears your case—and if I, as the prosecutor, withdraw the charges—you might even be acquitted. For that, however, you would need to submit a request to be sent to the front and, if acquitted, go to war.”
“And are you prepared to withdraw the charges?” Peter asked in surprise.
“I will be frank with you,” the prosecutor replied, enunciating each word. “As a patriot of my country, I believe that in wartime young, strong, and intelligent men like you should fight the enemy—not rot in the camps. Two of my own sons are at the front fulfilling their duty to the Motherland, and I am ready to help you do the same.”
“Thank you,” Peter said firmly. “I, too, am ready to defend my country rather than remain safely in the rear.”

Context note:
Set during World War II under Stalin’s regime, this scene exposes the legal absurdity of Soviet repression, where “justice” depended less on evidence than on political expediency. Special tribunals could issue sentences in batches, while wartime necessity sometimes transformed prisoners into soldiers—revealing a system in which ideology, survival, and patriotism collided.”
― Володимир Шабля, Камінь. Біографічний роман. Книга третя. Несправджені сподівання.: Все буде Голодомор.