On the right of heirs to information on the death of repressed and subsequently rehabilitated citizens
Authors: Dityatkovsky M. Yu. 
Published: September 2022

This paper discusses the question of how exactly the norms of the Constitution of the Russian Federation and the Law of the Russian Federation “On the rehabilitation of victims of political repressions” work, and what difficulties heirs face in practice in exercising the right to information about the death of repressed and subsequently rehabilitated citizens.

The problem of obtaining objective information about the death of these citizens by relatives of repressed and subsequently rehabilitated citizens has a rather long and sad history. In this regard, using the historical method and the method of comparative legal analysis, the main stages in the development of these legal relations are determined, an analysis is made of the previously secret regulatory legal acts of the USSR of 1934-1988 in the field of providing relatives with information about the death of repressed and subsequently rehabilitated citizens.

The paper concludes that for 54 years from 1934 to 1988, the heirs of the repressed and subsequently rehabilitated citizens were not provided with truthful information about the causes and date of death of the actually executed citizens, as well as about the places from the burial place. But at the same time, despite the abolition of all illegal legal acts and other documents on this issue, they still continue to be applied in practice without delay.

The paper analyzes the current state of legal regulation in the field of exercising the right to information about the death of repressed and subsequently rehabilitated citizens, the practice of implementing these provisions of federal legislation by public authorities.

As a result of abuses on the part of archival authorities, the practice of courts of general jurisdiction to protect the rights of heirs in the exercise of the right to information about the death of repressed and subsequently rehabilitated citizens has become widespread. In particular, it is noted that courts of general jurisdiction refuse to satisfy the requirements to establish an objective date and cause of death of repressed citizens as a result of execution (instead of fictitious dates and natural causes indicated in death certificates issued in 1955-1962), based on the fact that there is no reliable and proper evidence in the case files, testifying to the execution of the sentence to shoot the repressed citizen.

Given the negative experience of the heirs in the exercise of the right to information about the death of repressed and subsequently rehabilitated citizens, this paper attempts to substantiate the prospects for filing a complaint with the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation on this issue. In particular, the paper concludes that part five of Article 11 of the Law of the Russian Federation “On the Rehabilitation of Victims of Political Repressions”, which provides for the possibility of an arbitrary refusal by the archival authorities to inform the applicants of the time, causes of death and place of burial of the rehabilitated simply because of the lack of relevant information, without giving the reasons for the loss of documentation or evidence of such loss in conjunction with the provisions of parts 1 and 3 of Article 56 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation does not comply with the Constitution of the Russian Federation.

In conclusion, attention is drawn to the fact that the cases of establishing the facts of the death of repressed and subsequently rehabilitated citizens on a certain date and under certain circumstances as a result of execution are not simple and not isolated. Such cases actually concern an indefinite circle of persons and are of particular public interest.