@article{Olitskyy_2020, title={The Illegal Methods of Obtaining the Eyewitness Testimony in Cases Against Clergy in the Sumy region in the 1936 – 1938th}, volume={1}, url={https://istznu.org/index.php/journal/article/view/479}, abstractNote={<p>One of the poorly studied issues of repression against the Orthodox Church in the 1930th – the illegal methods of obtaining evidence against the clergy by the state security is studied in the article on the basis of a wide range of sources of modern Ukrainian, foreign and emigre historiography. The archived criminal cases of repressed priests in Sumy region were the basis of the study. The study can be the illustration of the situation in the Soviet Union as a whole, because modern Sumy region was part of the three regions of the USSR, and this practice was inherent in all that time Bolshevik system.</p> <p>It is established that the 1936 – 1937th is the period when using of illegal methods reached a peak and turned into daily practice. The study identified and classified main illegal methods used by state security officers to obtain the necessary testimonies against the clergy in 1936 – 1937.</p> <p>Additionally, this article seeks to analyze the factors that contributed to outright falsification of criminal cases and using of eyewitness testimony to make these falsification believable.</p> <p>The study traced the transformation of the punitive system in the USSR, which actually provoked and legitimized pressure on witnesses. The problem of eliminating witnesses from the trial, which made the rejection of previous testimony impossible, is highlighted.</p&gt;}, number={46}, journal={Zaporizhzhia Historical Review}, author={Olitskyy , V.O.}, year={2020}, month={Jul.}, pages={170-174} }