San-Galli Garden, Ligovsky Ave., 64, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 191040
After the revolution, due to severe social upheavals in the USSR, outbreaks of hooliganism occurred. Of course, such phenomena seriously undermined the authority of the government, but the militia was quite lenient towards bandits, as they were considered by the Soviet authorities to be “socially close,” often covering up and nullifying many cases. Everything changed when the “Chubarov case” exploded in Leningrad in 1926.
In 1922, the USSR Criminal Code introduced the article “Hooliganism” — punishable by corrective labor or one year of imprisonment. Ligovka in Leningrad was considered the district with the highest number of hooligans. For example, the notorious GOP gang (City Hostel of the Proletariat) operated there, from which the word “gopnik” originated. However, the most dangerous place in the district was considered to be Chubarov Lane, where the “Chubarovtsy” gang “worked.”
Hundreds of journalists gathered for the trial of the “Chubarov case” — each trying to learn and describe as many details as possible, which is why today we know both the names of the criminals and the victim. She was Lyuba Belova — a 20-year-old button factory worker. On the evening of August 21, 1926, the girl was walking from work to her friend’s house, who lived in the Ligovka area. However, Lyuba never made it to her friend — in Chubarov Lane, she was unlucky to encounter a gang of drunken hooligans “who grabbed her by the arms and shoulders. Immediately after, a large group of unknown B-people joined the attackers. Some of the attackers had knives and daggers. Belova was surrounded, a rag was thrown over her face, and she was led away… The crowd, having seized Belova, approached a gap in the fence of the San-Galli garden. They forced her to crawl into the garden. Believing the attack was a robbery, Belova began to take off her coat to give it to the attackers, but they ordered her to lie on the ground. When she refused, one of the attackers struck her hard on the ear; others tripped her, and Belova fell unconscious. Then the crowd of attackers began to rape Belova one after another. The rape lasted 4-5 hours. Belova was dragged from place to place 4 times. Several times she regained consciousness and then lost it again. The rapists tortured Belova and mocked her in every possible way. When she came to, exhausted and broken, Belova begged to be released. The bandits responded with cynical shouts. Fearing that the rapists might kill her, Belova began to pretend to be a prostitute — asking for beer, giving her address. When the rapists lit matches in the dark, Belova looked closely at their faces to later be able to identify them.” (From the indictment in the court case materials).
The men she met on her way were Pavel Kochergin, Andrey Gulli, the Tyvanchuk brothers, and Alexey Bobrovsky. Each of them was “notorious” either for idleness, a criminal past, or alcohol addiction.
It all started quite innocently: Pavel Kochergin liked the girl and decided to approach her to get acquainted. However, Lyuba’s refusal angered the drunken Pavel. Soon, bandits from another gang joined the men, and the “Chubarovtsy” began charging 20 kopecks each from those who joined for the “session” with the girl.
The criminals did not let the victim go for anywhere from four to six hours — during this time, at least 30 men managed to have sexual contact with her.
After the men dispersed, Lyuba managed to reach the police station and tell the officers what had happened. Although her story sounded very confused due to stress, the police easily understood who was involved.
It turned out that the men gathered in the park were of completely different ages and occupations. Most of them were between 17 and 25 years old, but there were also men over 50. Most surprisingly, among the perpetrators were not only hooligans and bandits but also factory workers, high school students, and even a member of the Komsomol cell who had never broken the law before.
The criminals were caught quite quickly, but no one was in a hurry to hand down the severe sentence they deserved. Similar cases of hooliganism were numerous in the post-revolutionary country, so the militia did not perceive the actions of the “Chubarovtsy” as extraordinary. Thus, the case did not progress until early September.
Perhaps the criminals would have gotten off with a light scare if not for the media coverage. On September 10, the issue of the “Red Newspaper” published a full description of what happened on that August evening in Leningrad for the first time. After that, most newspapers picked up the initiative and began publishing similar reports. Letters from angry workers demanding all necessary measures be taken to punish the rapists added fuel to the fire.
Under such appeals, the newspapers managed to collect 50,000 signatures from ordinary people, each convinced that the brutal crime should not go unpunished.
“No leniency, no indulgence, no pardon for the criminals. The most just and necessary court sentence for the rapists must be the death penalty.”
Although the first perpetrators were caught quite quickly, the militia searched for the remaining accomplices for several weeks after the publicity began. Throughout the autumn, the authorities prepared the criminal case against the participants in the rape.
The trial took place in December 1926, with 26 people on the defendant’s bench. The trial began on the 16th, and almost every detail was thoroughly documented in Leningrad, capital, and all-Union newspapers. Every respectable journalist wrote about the “Chubarovtsy,” and practically all USSR residents knew about it. The case is even mentioned in the novel by Ilya Ilf and Yevgeny Petrov, “The Twelve Chairs.”
The public was dissatisfied with the charge of “hooliganism” — for many, this word was associated with minor pranks, which could in no way describe what the “Chubarovtsy” did to the girl on August 21. That is why the court reclassified the “Chubarov case” as “banditry.” Moreover, this measure allowed sentencing the men to the highest punishment.
Propaganda skillfully picked up the “Chubarovtsy” case. Their crime was also called “political.” It was explained by the fact that the rapists attacked the socialist system, discrediting it by their actions.
Thus, on December 28, 1926, the court announced its decision. A total of 27 people were punished: seven of them, led by the instigator Pavel Kochergin, received the highest punishment — the death sentence. Two managed to appeal the decision, so in the end, only five were executed. The rest received sentences ranging from several months to ten years in prison. The rapists were sent to serve their sentences on the Solovetsky Islands.
In November 1927, the USSR celebrated the anniversary of the October Socialist Revolution. In honor of this, an amnesty was declared, thanks to which some of the “Chubarovtsy” were released.
The “Chubarovtsy” case was the first high-profile criminal trial related to banditry. The verdict was deliberately widely publicized to show bandits that the Soviet government intended to fight them to the end. For several years after the event, gangs similar to the “Chubarovtsy” continued to form, but in the end, in the confrontation between bandits and the militia, the latter won. The phenomenon of the surge in banditry was explained by the fact that people had lived for a long time under conditions of war and cruelty and were prone to aggression and violence.
Sources:
http://kcgs.net.ua/gurnal/22/03.pdf
