Andrei Vyshinsky

Andrey Yanuaryevich Vyshinsky (Андре́й Януа́рьевич Выши́нский) (December 10 [November 28, Old Style], 1883 - November 22, 1954), also spelt Vishinsky, Vyshinski, was a Soviet jurist and later diplomat. In 1935 he became Prosecutor General of the Soviet Union, the legal mastermind of Stalin's Great Purge. He put the "theoretical" legal base under the treason trials. The cornerstones of Vyshinsky's theory were:

• Criminal law is a tool of the class struggle
• "Confession is a queen over all sort of evidence".

Later positions he held include those of vice-premier (1938), deputy Commissar for Foreign Affairs (1940-1949), Minister for Foreign Affairs (1949-1953), and permanent representative of the Soviet Union to the United Nations.