Two Prosecutors

In 1937, amid [[Joseph Stalin]]'s [[Great Purge]], Kornyev, a young Soviet prosecutor who recently graduated from law school, comes across a letter written by a prisoner in [[Bryansk]]. Believing the man to be the victim of [[NKVD]] [[Corruption in the Soviet Union|corruption]], he attends the prison and obtains a visit through his oversight role in the local prosecutor's office.

In 1937, amid [[Joseph Stalin]]'s [[Great Purge]], Kornyev, a young Soviet prosecutor who recently graduated from law school, comes across a letter written by a prisoner in [[Bryansk]]. Believing the man to be the victim of [[NKVD]] [[Corruption in the Soviet Union|corruption]], he attends the prison and obtains a visit through his oversight role in the local prosecutor's office.

Kornyev meets Stepniak, an imprisoned [[Old Bolsheviks|Old Bolshevik]] and local party stalwart. He earns the old man's trust by recounting how he had attended one of Stepniak's speeches about truth and [[Bolshevism]] at his law school. Stepniak shows Kornyev torture wounds received after refusing to [[False confession|falsely confess]] and begs him to tell Stalin or members of the [[Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Politburo]] about the [[Wrongful conviction|wrongful convictions]] and illegal actions taken against loyal citizens who learn of or resist the NKVD's corruption. As Kornyev leaves, the prison director observing him makes a phone call while insulting his intelligence.

Despite the prison director's excuses, Kornyev insists on meeting Stepniak, an imprisoned [[Old Bolsheviks|Old Bolshevik]] and local party stalwart. He earns the old man's trust by recounting how he had attended one of Stepniak's speeches about truth and [[Bolshevism]] at his law school. Stepniak shows Kornyev torture wounds received after refusing to [[False confession|falsely confess]] and begs him to tell Stalin or members of the [[Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Politburo]] about the [[Wrongful conviction|wrongful convictions]] and illegal actions taken against loyal citizens who learn of or resist the NKVD's corruption. As Kornyev leaves, the prison director observing him makes a phone call while insulting his intelligence.

Kornyev travels to Moscow by train and tries to sleep. However, he is constantly woken up by a [[Peg leg|peglegged]] [[World War I]] veteran of the [[Battle of Kowel]] telling a story about how he had visited [[Vladimir Lenin]] in [[Smolny]] and had eventually gotten alms and was now seeking the same from Stalin.

Kornyev travels to Moscow by train and tries to sleep. However, he is constantly woken up by a [[Peg leg|peglegged]] [[World War I]] veteran of the [[Battle of Kowel]] telling a story about how he had visited [[Vladimir Lenin]] in [[Smolny]] and had eventually gotten alms and was now seeking the same from Stalin.