Nikolai Krylenko was born in 1885 in the Smolensk Governorate and went on to become a leading Bolshevik revolutionary and Soviet politician, serving in various posts such as head of the Russian Army, People's Commissar for Justice and the Prosecutor General. As Prosecutor General he oversaw several high-profile show trials. However Krylenko would himself meet his end in 1938 when he was arrested. He "confessed" to his crimes under torture but later retracted these in his trial. Krylenko was nevertheless founded guilty and shot.