Niurina, Faina

(1885–1938)

   A brilliant Jewish lawyer, educated before 1917 in a school of liberal jurisprudence, Niurina joined the procuracy following the 1917 Revolution. Unlike many Soviet prosecutors, such as Andrei Vyshinsky, she refused to allow the NKVD to dictate verdicts, insisting on the independence of her office. Her opinions cost her her life. She was arrested on Vyshinsky’s personal order in 1938, tried, and shot.