Iola Timofeevich Nikitchenko, Justice | Biography

Iola Timofeevich (I.T.) Nikitchenko was a high-ranking judge in the Soviet Union who served on the International Military Tribunal (IMT) that presided over the trial of 24 Nazi leaders after World War II. Nikitchenko, who served on the Supreme Court of the Soviet Union before and after the Nuremberg trials, was praised for his conduct during the proceedings.

Nikitchenko, who earned the rank of general, first came to international attention in August 1936 when he served as a judge at the infamous Moscow trial of Soviet government officials Zinoviev and Kamenev. The trials of these and other officials was orchestrated by the leader of the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin, who wished to eliminate any possible political rival. The trials, some of which were filmed, showed men like Zinoviev and Kamenev confessing to farfetched charges of treason and collaboration with the enemies of Communism and the Soviet Union. The alacrity with which the defendants confessed to alleged sabotage, conspiracy, and spying stunned neutral observers, who concluded that the men had been forced to say things either as a result of physical coercion or threats against their families. Some observers concluded that psychological methods had been employed to have the men destroy their reputations. The trials, which only lasted a few days, ended with the immediate executions of the defendants. The fact that Nikitchenko served on these show trials suggested that he was not a neutral jurist but a politically sensitive individual who sought to please Stalin.

As the war against Nazi Germany began to near an end, the Allies had to decide what to do with the Nazi leaders. The foreign ministers of the Soviet Union, Great Britain, France and the United States concluded that the leaders should be placed on trial. In June 1945 the delegations from the four Allied Powers met in London at the International Conference of Military Trials. U.S. Supreme Court justice Robert Jackson represented the United States, and Nikitchenko headed the Soviet delegation. Nikitchenko made clear that he believed the Nazis had already been found guilty and that the purpose of the trials was to secure quick and just punishment. However, Nikitchenko helped draft the London Charter that set out the ground rules for the proceedings that would become known as the Nuremberg Trials.

Nikitchenko agreed to serve on the judicial panel known as the International Military Tribunal (IMT). He helped draft the indictments of the Nazi leaders and successfully argued for the inclusion of several military and civilians leaders that the other Allied powers had initially resisted. During the deliberations of the IMT at the end of the trials, Nikitchenko maintained a hard line against all of the defendants. He also worked hard to keep out of the final judgments any incidents that would embarrass the Soviet Union. In general he was successful, as the other members sought to maintain a united front. However, Nikitchenko filed a dissent when the other members of the tribunal acquitted Hjalmar H.G. Schacht, Hans Fritzsche, and Franz von Papen. He also dissented from the sentence of life imprisonment for Rudolph Hess, believing he should be executed.