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CUESTIONES POLÍTICAS 
Vol. 40 Nº 72 (2022): 813-822
the  updated  political  and  legal  conditions  (Ledyakh,  1973;  Kudryavtsev 
and Trusov, 2002; Agilar, 2013). In Russian conditions, concerning the 
change of the political and legal regime in the 90s of the last century, this 
issue should be resolved based on Part 2 of Article 18 of the Law «On the 
Rehabilitation of Victims of Political Repression», which stipulates:
employees of the Cheka, GPU-OGPU, NKVD, MSS, prosecutor’s oces, 
judges, members of commissions, «special meetings», «twos», «threes», 
employees of other bodies that exercised judicial powers, persons who 
participated in the investigation and consideration of cases, who were 
found guilty of crimes against justice following the established procedure 
on political repression, are criminally liable based on the current criminal 
legislation (Federal law of the Russian Federation No. 1761-1, 1991).
Meanwhile, there are several legal obstacles to the implementation of 
this order (including the doctrine of the execution of the order, the statute 
of limitations for bringing to responsibility, compliance with the procedural 
procedure for bringing certain categories of ocials to responsibility), and 
most importantly, political properties. In a summary, the main factors 
contributing to this, in our opinion, are as follows:
•  In  Russia,  unlike,  for  example,  post-war  Germany,  there  were  no 
ocially established signs of crime and guilt in the behavior of the 
state itself and it bodies in conducting illegal policies, we recognized 
the presence of victims of repression, but their subject was not 
established.
•  The provisions of the Law “On the Rehabilitation of Victims of 
Political Repression” allow only representatives of the judiciary and 
executive authorities to be found guilty of repression, which does 
not allow raising the question of the responsibility of representatives 
of legislative bodies, public organizations, and political parties and 
indirectly  reects  the  recognition  that  the  illegal  nature  was  not 
so much the state policy itself, as its implementation at the law 
enforcement level.
•  The country still largely retains the priority of a normative 
understanding of the right and the identication of right with the law, 
there is no developed doctrine of the application of the principles of 
law, which generally removes the question of responsibility for the 
application of non-legal regulations.
•  There is a tendency not to touch on politically sensitive topics and 
historical issues, the discussion, and solution of which can serve as 
a factor in the destruction of social peace and harmony.
While legal factors can be considered relatively easy to overcome due to 
changes in legislation and consistent compliance with the principles and