How in Russia criminals could avoid punishment, or Places where robbers were not afraid of the court

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

At all times, criminals try to avoid punishment. However, in the modern world, where there are a variety of ways to search for intruders, it is much more difficult to do this. And in old Russia there was the principle of the inevitability of punishment, which is still the most important element of criminal law today. The people breaking the law knew this very well. But crimes were committed anyway, and many hoped that they would be able to hide from the authorities' persecution where no one would find them. Read how in old Russia the robbers went “to the bottom”, and where they could sit out that period while they were actively looking for.

What is Azil and how criminals used it to avoid punishment

During the Middle Ages, a criminal could escape punishment if he was in the right place. They called it "azil", according to researchers, this word came from the Latin asylum, which translates as "refuge".

In old Russia, a similar legal institution took shape by the middle of the 11th century. The offender could take refuge from persecution on the territory of a religious institution or by leaving the princely jurisdiction. In addition, there was a practice of forgiving crimes to those persons who voluntarily joined the official troops. Most likely this is due to the fact that the military belonged to a special class, and military service was prestigious.

Don army, or "There is no issue from the Don"

Often, men who committed a crime or disagreed with the policy of the authorities left the principalities. They acquired the status of free people, leaving for the Don steppes, and the fugitives took refuge in the Zaporozhye Sich. Until the 18th century, the Don Army existed according to its own ancient customs. Don self-government was recognized by the tsars Mikhail Fedorovich, Alexei Mikhailovich, Fedor Alekseevich. There was even an unspoken law that sounded like "There is no extradition from the Don".

The runaway slaves, having lived on the Don for some time, later boldly came to Moscow, where no one touched them. The situation was broken by Peter the Great. He began to send Cossack soldiers to the steppes, who were ordered to catch, punish and return fugitive people to the landowners. These measures were perceived by the Cossacks very negatively, causing a wave of protests, even uprisings. Subsequently, the Cossack troops obeyed state laws. However, some traditions of the freemen remained for a long time.

How the church hid criminals and what is "sorrow"

After the adoption of Christianity in Russia, laws were spread that worked in the Byzantine Empire - the churches accepted people asking for help and gave them shelter. They could have been criminals. Representatives of state bodies could not take the robbers from the territory of churches and monasteries by force. Russian religious leaders submitted petitions to the authorities for pardoning persons who were hiding in churches and monasteries. Such requests were called "grieving."

At a time when the government was interested in spreading Christianity, such requests were granted. This was done in order to strengthen the authority of the Orthodox hierarchs. When the goal was achieved, the situation began to change. In the 16th century, "grieving" for criminals began to be classified as church interference with law enforcement.

It became more difficult for the church to influence secular life, although some criminals continued to take refuge in monasteries and hermitages. Sometimes they were allowed to become novices and to atone for their guilt by honest labor. Already during the reign of Ivan the Terrible, prisons were organized in some religious institutions not only for criminals, but also for political ones - schismatics, heretics, sectarians. The Solovetsky Monastery is known, to which the rebels were exiled.

How fugitive peasants settled remote territories, and criminals built fortresses on the banks of the Volga and the Urals

Desperate robbers found refuge in the Volga and Ural regions. Fearless "dashing people" often attacked merchant ships, appropriating expensive goods from China and Persia. When Kazan and Astrakhan were conquered by the military of Ivan the Terrible, Russian fortresses began to be actively built in the Volga region. The lower Volga region was of great interest from a military-strategic point. It was a large transport hub, from which trade caravans dispersed throughout Russia. In order for Astrakhan to be connected with other regions, many settlements were built, which later became cities - it is worth remembering Samara, Tsaritsyn, Saratov. Fortresses in the Volga region were also erected with the aim of cutting off the Crimean Tatars' way to the Volga and Urals. To populate these buildings, people were required. The fugitives in hiding did an excellent job with this task, so the authorities did not pursue them.

The Russian state sought to populate the outlying lands with its own subjects. The banks of the Dnieper, Don and Volga were huge territories of strategic and economic importance. The Russian fortresses under construction here made possible the gradual colonization of the outskirts. At the same time, strong serfdom in the center of Russia forced the dissenters to flee to remote regions, namely to the outskirts. The authorities have toughened the punishment for sheltering and refusing to extradite fugitive serfs. People did not want to get "under the distribution", and the fugitives simply had nowhere to go. What was left for them? Run as far as possible from the places where they were oppressed. In fact, Moscow has thus solved a complex and very important problem of the development and settlement of territories on the outskirts. It should be noted that this practice was not invented in Russia, but was used in other states as well. For example: in Great Britain, many criminals were punished by exile to distant Australia.

It happened that the criminals did gain control over the territories. For example, this was the case after the 1953 amnesty, when criminals seized Ulan-Ude.