The Moscow trials were a series of show trials held by the Soviet Union between 1936 and 1938 at the instigation of Joseph Stalin. They were nominally directed against "Trotskyists" and members of the "Right Opposition" of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.The "Case of the Trotskyite–Zinovievite Terrorist Center" ;
The "Case of the Anti-Soviet Trotskyist Center" ; and
The "Case of the Anti-Soviet 'Bloc of Rightists and Trotskyites'".
Prosecutor General Vyshinsky (centre), reading the indictment, in 1937
A show trial is a public trial in which the guilt or innocence of the defendant has already been determined. The purpose of holding a show trial is to present both accusation and verdict to the public, serving as an example and a warning to other would-be dissidents or transgressors.
People's Court trial of Adolf Reichwein, Nazi Germany, 1944
Prosecutor General Andrey Vyshinsky (centre) reading the 1937 indictment against Karl Radek during the 2nd Moscow trial
Captain Witold Pilecki, former prisoner at Auschwitz during a show trial conducted by communist authorities in Poland in 1948