View source for Decree about Arrests, Prosecutor Supervision and Course of Investigation

{{refimprove|date=June 2015}}

The '''Decree about Arrests, Prosecutor Supervision and Course of Investigation''' No. 81 was issued jointly by the [[Sovnarkom]] and [[Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union]] (undersigned by [[Vyacheslav Molotov|Molotov]] and [[Joseph Stalin|Stalin]]) on November 17, 1938.

It officially marked the end of the [[Great Purge]].<ref name=mjni>[[Marc Jansen]], [[Nikita Petrov]], ''Stalin's Loyal Executioner: People's Commissar Nikolai Ezhov, 1895-1940'', 2002, {{ISBN|0817929061}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=3IcnAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA158 p 158] </ref>

The decree declared that during 1936-1938 NKVD did a good job in cleansing the country of numerous "spies, terrorists, diversionists and [[Wrecking (Soviet crime)|wrecker]]s <...> which provided a significant support for foreign intelligencies in the USSR..." <!--СНК СССР и ЦК ВКП(б) отмечают, что за 1937—1938 годы под руководством партии органы НКВД проделали большую работу по разгрому врагов народа и очистили СССР от многочисленных шпионских, террористических, диверсионных и вредительских кадров из троцкистов, бухаринцев, эсеров, меньшевиков, буржуазных националистов, белогвардейцев, беглых кулаков и уголовников, представлявших из себя серьезную опору иностранных разведок в СССР и в особенности разведок Японии, Германии, Польши, Англии и Франции.--> The decree further noted that NKVD was both sloppy and the same time overzealous and put the blame on the "[[enemies of the people]]" who infiltrated NKVD. The decree formally banned [[Mass operations of the NKVD]] and ordered the strict accordance to the codes of criminal procedure and the supervision of the NKVD investigations by prosecutors. 

The order of the implementation of the Decree was detailed in the '''NKVD Order No. 00762''' (Приказ НКВД СССР № 00762 «О порядке осуществления постановления СНК СССР и ЦК ВКП(б) от 17 ноября 1938 г.»).

==References==
{{reflist}}
*{{Wikisourcelang-inline|ru|Постановление СНК СССР и ЦК ВКП(б) № П 4387 от 17.11.38 "Об арестах, прокурорском надзоре и ведении следствия"|Decree about Arrests, Prosecutor Supervision and Course of Investigation}}

[[Category:Political repression in the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Soviet decrees|Arrests, Prosecutor Supervision and Course of Investigation]]
[[Category:1938 documents]]
[[Category:Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Great Purge]]
[[Category:NKVD]]

{{Soviet-stub}}