Arrest, Investigation and Sentence

Abstract

After ten years of planning, plotting and writing, the Decembrist conspiracy’s denouement came suddenly and swiftly. This is explained by three main factors: first, the reports of Shervud and Maiboroda exposing the Southern Society in particular, second, the totally unexpected death of the 47-year-old Tsar Alexander on 19 November 1825 which precipitated an equally unexpected succession crisis and, third, the uprising in St Petersburg on 14 December 1825, the day which was supposed to bring an end to Russia’s interregnum with the public inauguration of Nicholas I. Following the events of 14 December the authorities had little difficulty in identifying and rounding up those who had been involved. Some indeed gave themselves up. The conspiracy unravelled at such a speed that within hours the first prisoners found themselves in the Winter Palace, subjected to a preliminary interrogation, in many cases by Nicholas I himself, and to the humiliating procedures of arrest and detention. However, the net had been closing in on the Southern Society well before the end of 1825. This chapter traces the events which led to Pestel’s arrest, analyses both his investigation at the hands of the Investigating Committee and his behaviour during this six-month process and concludes with an account of his execution.