Once again Ulrikh presided, assisted by Matulevich and a new junior figure, Yevlev. And once again, Vyshinsky conducted the prosecution. Only the three doctors had defense counsel, and they were represented by two of the same lawyers who had done their bit for the prosecution in the same roles in the Pyatakov Trial.
A CONFESSION WITHDRAWN
The first sensation of the trial came almost at once, when the accused were asked their pleas. These were all the usual “guilty,” until Krestinsky was reached.
Krestinsky, “a pale, seedy, dim little figure, his steel-rimmed spectacles perched on his beaky nose,”10 replied firmly to Ulrikh:
I plead not guilty. I am not a Trotskyite. I was never a member of the bloc of Rights and Trotskyites, of whose existence I was not aware. Nor have I committed any of the crimes with which I personally am charged, in particular I plead not guilty to the charge of having had connections with the German intelligence service.
The President:
Do you corroborate the confession you made at the preliminary investigation?
Krestinsky:
Yes, at the preliminary investigation I confessed, but I have never been a Trotskyite.
The President:
I repeat the question, do you plead guilty?
Krestinsky:
Before my arrest I was a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (bolsheviks) and I remain one now.
The President:
Do you plead guilty to the charge of participating in espionage activities and of participating in terrorist activities?
Krestinsky:
I have never been a Trotskyite. I have never belonged to the bloc of Rights and Trotskyites and have not committed a single crime.
11
After the pleas, the court recessed for twenty minutes. It has been suggested that this was to give time to put a little pressure on Krestinsky. Probably; but the recess was only five minutes longer than that at the previous trials.
The court proceeded with the examination of Bessonov, who from his post as Counselor in the Soviet Embassy in Berlin was the alleged contact man with Trotsky and Sedov. Bessonov, a grim, gray-faced man with the air of an automaton,12 had been arrested on 28 February 1937, the day after Bukharin and Rykov. He had denied the main charges until 30 December 1937, when a combination of torture and the conveyor finally broke him.13 But meanwhile, he had been tried on 13 August before the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court (“composed of almost the same people as in the present Trial”),14 which neither acquitted nor condemned him, but sent the case for further examination.
This can hardly mean other than that it had been decided to save him for a major triaclass="underline" as a minor diplomat, and ex-Socialist Revolutionary, he was bound to be purged in any case. He must have appeared a suitable courier. The case is comparable with that of the Komsomols of 1935, saved for the Zinoviev Trial.
When Bessonov now confessed that he had indeed been involved in Trotskyite plots with Krestinsky, Vyshinsky referred to Krestinsky’s refusal to admit this. Bessonov smiled. Vyshinsky asked, “Why are you smiling?” Bessonov replied, “The reason why I am standing here is that Nikolai Nikolayevich Krestinsky named me as the liaison man with Trotsky. Besides him and Pyatakov nobody knew about this.”15 Something of the mechanics of confessions implicating others, and of the whole tangled net of moral responsibility, comes through. In his final plea, Bessonov was to remark that it was not until Krestinsky implicated him in October 1937 that his resistance to interrogation started to become hopeless.16
In general, after Bessonov had made a few points about connections with Sedov and Pyatakov, his examination was largely turned into an excuse for baiting Krestinsky. The latter admitted he had met Bessonov in the West, but denied any Trotskyite links:
Vyshinsky:
And about Trotskyite affairs?
Krestinsky:
We did not talk about them. I was not a Trotskyite.
Vyshinsky:
You never talked about them.
Krestinsky:
Never.
Vyshinsky:
That means that Bessonov is not telling the truth, and that you are telling the truth. Do you always tell the truth.
Krestinsky:
No.
Vyshinsky:
Not always. Accused Krestinsky, you and I will have to examine serious matters and there is no need to get excited. Consequently, Bessonov is not telling the truth?
Krestinsky:
No.
Vyshinsky:
But you too do not always tell the truth. Is that not so?
Krestinsky:
I did not always tell the truth during the investigation.
Vyshinsky:
But at other times you always tell the truth?
Krestinsky:
The truth.
Vyshinsky:
Why this lack of respect for the investigation, why during the investigation did you tell untruths? Explain.
Krestinsky:
(No reply.)
17
A few minutes later, Bessonov spoke of Krestinsky’s formulations. Vyshinsky interrupted in an unpleasant tone, “Briefly, because I think that Krestinsky will himself talk about these purposes later.” And, after Bessonov had made his point, Vyshinsky turned to Krestinsky and asked, “Accused Krestinsky, do you recall such diplomatic conversations with Bessonov?” Krestinsky answered firmly, “No, we never had such conversations.”18
Two minutes later, it was:
Vyshinsky:
You do not remember the details, but Bessonov does.
Krestinsky:
There was not a word said about the Trotskyite stand.
19
Finally, the question of Krestinsky’s confession was faced directly:
Vyshinsky:
But what about your admission?
Krestinsky:
During the investigation I gave false testimony several times.
Vyshinsky:
You said, ‘I did not formally belong to the Trotskyite centre.’ Is that true or not?
Krestinsky:
I did not belong to it at all.
Vyshinsky:
You say that formally you did not belong. What is true and what is not true here? Perhaps it is all true, or it is all untrue, or only half of it is true? What percentage, how many grams of it are true?
Krestinsky:
I did not belong to the Trotskyite centre because I was not a Trotskyite.
Vyshinsky:
You were not a Trotskyite?
Krestinsky:
No.
20
Krestinsky went on to point out that he had abandoned Trotsky in 1927:
Krestinsky:
I date my rupture with Trotsky and Trotskyism from 27 November 1927, when, through Serebryakov, who had returned from America and was in Moscow, I sent Trotsky a sharp letter containing sharp criticism….
Vyshinsky:
That letter is not in the records. We have another letter—your letter to Trotsky.