Nikita Mikhailovich Muravyov (russian: Никита Михайлович Муравьёв) ( – ) was an Imperial Guards staff

officer An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," fro ...

and plotter in what led to the

Decembrist revolt The Decembrist Revolt ( ru , Восстание декабристов, translit = Vosstaniye dekabristov , translation = Uprising of the Decembrists) took place in Russia on , during the interregnum following the sudden death of Emperor Al ...

of 1825. Muravyov was active in a number of proto-Decembrist organizations. In 1816, he was among the founders of the

Union of Salvation The Union of Salvation ( rus, Союз спасения, Sojuz spasenyja), formed in 1816, also known as the Society of True and Loyal Sons of the Fatherland (russian: Общество истинных и верных сынов отечеств� ...

, a secret society. In 1820, he spoke out for

republican government Representative democracy, also known as indirect democracy, is a type of democracy where elected people represent Represent may refer to: * ''Represent'' (Compton's Most Wanted album) or the title song, 2000 * ''Represent'' (Fat Joe album), ...

in the

Union of Welfare The Union of Prosperity (, or Soyuz blagodenstviya) or Union of Welfare was a larger secret society of the Decembrists, established in early 1818 on the basis of the dissolved Union of Salvation and contained the literary society, the Green Lamp. ...

. After the Union of Welfare's 1821 dissolution, Muravyov joined the supreme

duma A duma (russian: дума) is a Russian assembly with advisory or legislative functions. The term ''boyar duma'' is used to refer to advisory councils in Russia from the 10th to 17th centuries. Starting in the 18th century, city dumas were for ...

and was a leader in the Northern Society, and was elected to the Southern Society's directory. He wrote a draft constitution for a Russian state, and a tract "Curious Conversation" arguing the need to rise against despotism. He was on leave in the country when the

occurred on 14 December 1825, and did not participate directly in it. But he was complicit, arrested and imprisoned in the

Peter and Paul Fortress The Peter and Paul Fortress is the original citadel of St. Petersburg, Russia, founded by Peter the Great in 1703 and built to Domenico Trezzini's designs from 1706 to 1740 as a star fortress. Between the first half of the 1700s and early 1920s i ...

. He was condemned to death, but the sentence was commuted to 20 years of hard labor. He was assigned to the Nerchinsk Mines, then in 1835 exiled to

Irkutsk Province Irkutsk Oblast (russian: Ирку́тская о́бласть, Irkutskaya oblast; bua, Эрхүү можо, Erkhüü mojo) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located in southeastern Siberia in the basins of the Angara, Lena, and Nizh ...

where he died in 1843.

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