Appendix.
DECREE ON THE REVOLUTIONARY TRIBUNAL¹.
[May 4, 1918]
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1. In amendment and supplementation of the existing regulations concerning Revolutionary Tribunals—established by the Decree on the Judiciary of November 24, 1917, for the purpose of combating counter-revolutionary activities, sabotage, and speculation—Revolutionary Tribunals shall be retained only in major centers (in capitals, provincial capitals, large railway junctions, and industrial hubs). All other local and military Revolutionary Tribunals are to be abolished, with their cases transferred to the nearest Revolutionary Tribunals.
2. Revolutionary Tribunals are also to assume jurisdiction over cases involving pogroms, bribery, forgery, the unlawful use of Soviet documents, hooliganism, and espionage.
3. All matters of a general criminal nature are to be removed from the jurisdiction of the Revolutionary Tribunals and referred to the regular judicial organs.
4. The division of Revolutionary Tribunals into Tribunals for combating counter-revolution, for combating speculation, and for press-related matters is hereby abolished.
5. Alongside each Revolutionary Tribunal, a Prosecutorial Collegium consisting of at least three members is to be established, elected either directly by local Soviets or, alternatively, upon nomination by the Revolutionary Tribunal or the People’s Commissariat of Justice.
6. The duties of the Prosecutorial Collegium include:
a) Participation, through one of its members, in the sessions of the Investigative Commission of the Revolutionary Tribunal when considering the question of referring all individuals against whom charges have been brought before the Revolutionary Tribunal.
b) Providing the Investigative Commission with opinions regarding the jurisdictional competence of cases and the completeness of the investigative proceedings conducted.
c) Proposing to the Investigative Commission that charges be brought against one or another individual or group of individuals for crimes specified in the Regulations on the Revolutionary Tribunal, or for acts that bear the hallmarks of counter-revolutionary activity.
d) Formulating the indictment in each case within the Investigative Commission prior to the case being scheduled for hearing before the Revolutionary Tribunal.
e) Conducting public prosecution in all cases during the court sessions of the Revolutionary Tribunal.
7. The Investigative Commission of the Revolutionary Tribunal shall resolve all questions pertaining to the investigation in closed sessions.
8. For each case, the Investigative Commission of the Revolutionary Tribunal shall submit its opinion on the referral of the case to the Revolutionary Tribunal.

AMENDMENTS TO THE DRAFT REGULATIONS ON THE REVOLUTIONARY TRIBUNAL UNDER THE CEC REGARDING THE TERMINATION OF PROSECUTORIAL COLLEGIUM CASES. In the absence of protest from the prosecutor within three days, the case shall proceed to further disposition.
9.
The completed investigative proceedings in each case shall be presented to the accused or to their defense counsel, who shall be granted the right to make their own observations regarding the investigative work carried out. The question of the case’s further disposition shall be resolved by the Investigative Commission.
Approved.
Lenin.
1 The document is printed from the original manuscript, typed on a typewriter. In paragraph 9, Lenin corrected the word “conclusions” to “observations.” The Decree on Revolutionary Tribunals was published in Izvestia of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, No. 97, dated May 17, 1918.
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AMENDMENTS TO THE DRAFT REGULATIONS
ON THE REVOLUTIONARY TRIBUNAL UNDER THE CEC
22/У [1918]
1. To adjudicate cases that are to be removed from the jurisdiction of local Revolutionary Tribunals by resolutions of the Presidium of the CEC, the Council of People’s Commissars, or the People’s Commissariat of Justice, an Extraordinary Revolutionary Tribunal is hereby established under the Central Executive Committee.
2. The Extraordinary Revolutionary Tribunal shall be elected by the Central Executive Committee, consisting of one chairman and six members, for a term of three months. The chairman and members of the Extraordinary Revolutionary Tribunal may be recalled prior to the expiration of this term.
3. Sessions of the Extraordinary Revolutionary Tribunal shall be convened by the Presidium of the CEC, either on its own initiative or upon the proposal of the Council of People’s Commissars or the People’s Commissariat of Justice.
4. To conduct investigations into cases referred for consideration
[to the Extraordinary!
Revolutionary
Tribunal], an Investigative Commission is to be established under the CEC, composed of three members elected by the Central Executive Committee.
5. Under the [Extraordinary] Revolutionary Tribunal, a Central Prosecutorial Collegium is to be established, consisting of three members, elected by

LKSCHSKPN S’ORIIC
the Central Executive Committee; in addition to fulfilling the duties prescribed by the decree of May 4, the Prosecutorial Collegium is also tasked with coordinating and guiding the activities of the Prosecutorial Collegia of local Revolutionary Tribunals.
6.
In its operations,
the [Extraordinary] Revolutionary
Tribunal under the CEC and the institutions affiliated with it shall be guided by the current decrees and general instructions issued to Revolutionary Tribunals by the People’s Commissariat of Justice.
Approved—with amendments. Lenin, 1 The draft was submitted for approval to the Council of People’s Commissars on May 22, 1918, by the People’s Commissar of Justice, II. I. Stuchka. The approved regulation, as amended by Lenin, was forwarded to the Council of People’s Commissars on May 29, 1918, for endorsement by the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. The regulation was published in Izvestia of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, No. 117, dated June 9, 1918, under the title “Decree… on the Revolutionary Tribunal under the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of Soviets.”