The Presidential Library’s new exhibtion presents the history of the Prosecutor's Office of Russia 

From February 7 to April 22, 2022 the exhibition "Keepers of the Law: marking the 300th anniversary of the establishment of the Russian Prosecutor's Office" is open at the Presidential Library.

The exposition is devoted to the history of the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Empire: its establishment in 1722, its formation and development, the activities of the Prosecutor Generals of the Senate in 1722–1802 and the Ministers of Justice, who were Prosecutor Generals in 1802–1917.

When creating the prosecutor's office, Peter I set before it the task of "destroying or weakening the evil arising from disorder in business, injustice, bribery and lawlessness". The exposition provides an opportunity to study Peter's "Instruction on the position of Prosecutor General of the Senate". It states that “the Attorney General is guilty of sitting in the Senate and watching firmly, so that the Senate keeps its position and in all cases that are subject to Senate consideration and decision, truly, zealously and decently, without loss of time, according to the regulations and decrees sent ... <...> The prosecutors must look over all, so that they act truly and zealously in their rank.

The exhibition features the "most secret instruction" of Catherine II, in which the Empress outlined her views on the future activities of the appointed Prosecutor General A. A. Vyazemsky. During the era of her reign, as a result of the reform of the Senate and the provincial administration, the prosecutor's office was able to expand supervisory functions in relation to provincial and county authorities and local courts.

The exposition also presents the “Most Submissive Report to the Great Sovereign-Emperor on the Rules of Proceedings in the Senate”, the author of which was the poet Gavriil Romanovich Derzhavin, the first Minister of Justice, appointed to this position in 1802, when the institution of the Prosecutor’s Office became part of the established Ministry of Justice.

The preparation of the Judicial Reform of Alexander II, which introduced fundamental changes in the activities of the national prosecutor's office, is illustrated by book publications, archives and notes by the Minister of Justice D. N. Zamyatnin.

The judicial practice of post-reform Russia in the second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries is shown on the example of publications and documents related to the names of famous lawyers: A. F. Koni, F. N. Plevako, N. V. Muravyov, A. S. Zarudny.

Some of the documents illustrate the participation of the Prosecutor's Office in high-profile trials of populist revolutionaries, including Vera Zasulich and the organizers of the assassination attempt on Alexander II. The exposition also provides materials about the assassination in 1911 of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Russian Empire Pyotr Stolypin.

The Presidential Library's portal and collections contain a large number of materials telling about the history and present day of the Prosecutor's Office of Russia, some of them are included in the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation section of the basic collection of the Presidential Library State Authority.

The Presidential Library expresses its gratitude to the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation for their assistance in creating the exhibition.

The partners of the exhibition are the Russian State Historical Archive, the Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Gorky Scientific Library of St. Petersburg State University, the Central Naval Library.

The exhibition "Keepers of the Law: marking the 300th anniversary of the establishment of the Prosecutor's Office of Russia" will run until April 22, 2022.

To visit the exposition please pre-register by phone (812) 334-25-14 or send an e-mail at excursion@prlib.ru.