Siberia and the Exile System/Volume 2/Appendix D
APPENDIX D
LAWS AND ORDERS OF THE GOVERNMENT WITH REGARD TO POLITICAL OFFENSES AND OFFENDERS
The following are a few sections from the "Rules Relating to Measures for the Preservation of National Order and Public Tranquillity," approved by Alexander III. on the 14th of August, 1881, and promulgated in an Imperial Command on the 4th of September of the same year.
{{fine block|Section 5. [a] When public tranquillity in any locality shall be disturbed by criminal attempts against the existing imperial form of government, or against the security of private persons and their property, or by preparations for such attempts, so that, for the preservation of order, a resort to the existing permanent laws seems to be insufficient, then that locality may be declared in a state of reinforced safeguard.
[b] When by reason of such attempts the population of a certain place shall be thrown into a state of alarm which creates a necessity for the adoption of exceptional measures to immediately reestablish order, then the said place may be declared in a state of extraordinary safeguard.[1]
Section 15. Within the limits of such places [places declared to be in a state of reinforced safeguard] governors-general, governors, and municipal chiefs of police may [a] issue obligatory ordinances relating to matters connected with the preservation of public tranquillity and the security of the Empire, and [b] punish by fine and imprisonment violations of such ordinances.
Section 16. Governors-general, governors, and municipal chiefs of police are authorized also [a] to settle by administrative process cases involving violation of the obligatory ordinances issued by them; [b] to prohibit all popular, social, and even private meetings; [c] to close temporarily, or for the whole term of reinforced safeguard, all commercial and industrial establishments; and [d] to prohibit particular persons from residing in places declared to be in a state of reinforced safeguard. [Remark.—Banishment to a specified place, even to one's native place, with obligatory residence there, will be allowed only after communication with the Minister of the Interior. Rules for such banishment are set forth in Sections 32-36.]
Section 32. The banishment of a private person by administrative process to any particular locality in European or Asiatic Russia, with obligatory residence there for a specified time, may not take place otherwise than with an observance of the following rules:
Section 33. The proper authority, upon becoming convinced of the necessity for the banishment of a private person, shall make a statement to that effect to the Minister of the Interior, with a detailed explanation of the reasons for the adoption of this measure, and also a proposition with regard to the period of banishment. [Remark.—The preliminary imprisonment of a person thus presented for exile to a specified place may be extended, by authority of the Minister of the Interior, until such time as a decision shall be reached in his case.]
Section 34. Presentations of this kind will be considered by a special council in the Ministry of the Interior, under the presidency of one of the Minister's associates, such council to consist of two members from the Ministry of the Interior and two members from the Ministry of Justice. The decisions of this council shall be submitted to the Minister of the Interior for confirmation.
Section 35. While considering presentations for exile the above-mentioned council may call for supplemental information or explanations, and, in case of necessity, may summon for personal examination the individual nominated for banishment.
Section 36. A period of from one to five years shall be designated as the term for continuous residence in the assigned place of exile. [Remark.—The term of banishment may be shortened or lengthened, in the manner prescribed in Section 34, within the limits set by section 36.[2]]}}
The following are the sections of the Russian penal code under which political offenders are prosecuted when brought before the courts:
{{fine block|Section 245. All persons found guilty of composing and circulating written or printed documents, books, or representations calculated to create disrespect for the Supreme Authority, or for the personal character of the Gossudar [the Tsar], or for the Government of his Empire, shall be condemned, as insulters of Majesty, to deprivation of all civil rights, and to from ten to twelve years of penal servitude. [This punishment carries with it exile in Siberia for what remains of life after the expiration of the hard-labor sentence.]
Section 249. All persons who shall engage in rebellion against the Supreme Authority—that is, who shall take part in collective and conspirative insurrection against the Gossudar and the Empire; and also all persons who shall plan the overthrow of the Government in the Empire as a whole, or in any part thereof; or who shall intend to change the existing form of government, or the order of succession to the throne established by law; all persons who, for the attainment of these ends, shall organize or take part in a conspiracy, either actively and with knowledge of its object, or by participation in a conspirative meeting, or by storing or distributing weapons, or by other preparations for insurrection—all such persons, including not only those most guilty, but their associates, instigators, prompters, helpers, and concealers, shall be deprived of all civil rights and be put to death. Those who have knowledge of such evil intentions, and of preparations to carry them into execution, and who, having power to inform the Government thereof, do not fulfil that duty, shall be subjected to the same punishment.
Section 250. If the guilty persons have not manifested an intention to resort to violence, but have organized a society or association intended to attain, at a more or less remote time in the future, the objects set forth in Section 249, or have joined such an association, they shall be sentenced, according to the degree of their criminality, either to from four to six years of penal servitude, with deprivation of all civil rights [including exile to Siberia for life] … or to colonization in Siberia [without penal servitude], or to imprisonment in a fortress from one year and four months to four years.}}
These sections, it will be observed, are tolerably comprehensive. They not only include all attempts to overthrow the Government vi et armis; they not only cover all action "calculated to create disrespect for Majesty"; but they provide for the punishment of the mere intention to bring about a change of administration, at a remote time in the future, by means of peaceable discussion and the education of the people. Even this is not all. A man may be perfectly loyal, he may never have given expression to a single thought calculated to create disrespect for the Gossudar, or the Gossudar's Government; and yet, if he comes accidentally to know that his sister, or his brother, or his friend belongs to a society which contemplates a "change in the existing form of government," and if he does not go voluntarily to the chief of gendarmes and betray that brother, sister, or friend, the law is adequate to send him to Siberia for life.