Garegin Abramovich Apresov (russian: Гарегин Абрамович Апресов; 6 January 1890 – 11 September 1941) was a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

diplomat, most notable for his tenure in

Xinjiang Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...

during

Sheng Shicai Sheng Shicai (; 3 December 189513 July 1970) was a Chinese warlord who ruled Xinjiang from 1933 to 1944. Sheng's rise to power started with a coup d'état in 1933 when he was appointed the ''duban'' or Military Governor of Xinjiang. His rule o ...

's rule.

Life

Garegin A. Apresov (Apresoff) was born to an

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...

family in

Qusar Qusar District (; az, Qusar rayonu; lez, КцIар район, script=Latn) is one of the 66 districts of Azerbaijan. It is located in the north-east of the country and belongs to the Guba-Khachmaz Economic Region. The district borders the dis ...

in what was then Baku Governorate in Caucasus Viceroyalty of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

. He studied law at the

Moscow State University M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU; russian: Московский государственный университет имени М. В. Ломоносова) is a public research university in Moscow, Russia and the most prestigious ...

and graduated in 1914. From 1914 until 1917 he served in the army. Апресов, Гарегин Абрамович. Энциклопедия фонда «Хайазг». He joined the

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ...

in 1918.Апресов Георгий (Гарегин) Абрамович
/ref> From 1917 to 1918 he was the President of the

Lankaran Lankaran ( az, Lənkəran, ) is a city in Azerbaijan, on the coast of the Caspian Sea, near the southern border with Iran. As of 2021, the city had a population of 89,300. It is next to, but independent of, Lankaran District. The city forms a dis ...

Municipal Council. In March 1918 he was named a member of a government's directorate in Baku and later a member of the Directorate for Food in Baku. In the same year, he became a member of the

Revolutionary Tribunal The Revolutionary Tribunal (french: Tribunal révolutionnaire; unofficially Popular Tribunal) was a court instituted by the National Convention during the French Revolution for the trial of political offenders. It eventually became one of the ...

in Saratov. From 1918 to 1919 he was the Leader of the Provincial Justice Department in Saratov. In 1920, he was involved in underground activity in the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia (country), Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range ...

. From 1921 to 1921, Apresov served as Deputy

People's Commissar Commissar (or sometimes ''Kommissar'') is an English transliteration of the Russian (''komissar''), which means 'commissary'. In English, the transliteration ''commissar'' often refers specifically to the political commissars of Soviet and Ea ...

for Justice of the Azerbaijan SSR and as a commander of a brigade of the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ( Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...

. Between 1921 and 1922 he was a member of the Collegiate of the People's Commissars for Justice in the

Georgian SSR The Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic (Georgian SSR; ka, საქართველოს საბჭოთა სოციალისტური რესპუბლიკა, tr; russian: Грузинская Советская Соц� ...

. From 1922 to 1923 he served as the Soviet Consul in

Rasht Rasht ( fa, رشت, Rašt ; glk, Rəšt, script=Latn; also romanized as Resht and Rast, and often spelt ''Recht'' in French and older German manuscripts) is the capital city of Gilan Province, Iran. Also known as the "City of Rain" (, ''Ŝahre B ...

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

and then from 1923 to 1926 in Mashhad, Persia. For some time he was also a representative of the Foreign Department of the Joint State Political Directorate (INO OGPU) and Soviet Interim Commissioner for Persia (1923–24).АПРЕСОВ Гарегин Абрамович
/ref> Between September 1927 and July 1928, Apresov served as a member of the Military Collegiate of the Supreme Court of the Soviet Union, but resigned at his own request. From 1927 to 1932 he was a NKID agent in Baku. He was NKID's plenipotentiary before the Council of People's Commissars of the Azerbaijan SSR in 1929 and the

Uzbek SSR Uzbekistan (, ) is the common English name for the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic (Uzbek SSR; uz, Ўзбекистон Совет Социалистик Республикаси, Oʻzbekiston Sovet Sotsialistik Respublikasi, in Russian: Уз ...

and the

Soviet Central Asia Soviet Central Asia (russian: link=no, Советская Средняя Азия, Sovetskaya Srednyaya Aziya) was the part of Central Asia administered by the Soviet Union between 1918 and 1991, when the Central Asian republics declared ind ...

in 1930. In 1935 he was named the Soviet General Consul and Representative of the INO OGPU in Urumqi,

, China. From 1935 to 1936 he was Chief of the Second Eastern Department of the People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs of the Soviet Union (NKID).

Arrest and death

In March 1937 he was recalled from service in China and arrested. He was dismissed from the NKID on 13 July 1937. On 13 July 1940 he was sentenced to 10 years in prison under the accusation of the anti-Soviet activity based on the Art. 58-10 RSFSR Penal Code. On 8 September 1941, on the basis of Decree No. GKO-634ss, without initiating a criminal case and conducting preliminary and trial proceedings, the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR, chaired by Vasily Ulrich (members of the collegium D. Ya. Kandibin and Vasiliy Bukanov), sentenced Apresov and 161 prisoners of the

Oryol Prison The Oryol Prison has been a prison in Oryol since the 19th century. It was a notable place of incarceration for political prisoners and war prisoners of the Second World War. The building of prison, built in 1840, is one of the oldest buildings ...

to death penalty under Art. 58-10 RSFSR Penal Code. He was shot on 11 September 1941 in the Medvedev Forest near Oryol, in an event known as the

Medvedev Forest massacre The Medvedev Forest massacre (russian: Медведевский расстрел) or Orel massacre (Орловский расстрел) was a mass execution in the Soviet Union carried out by the Soviet secret police NKVD on 11 September 1941. Tak ...

References

Notes

Books

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Apresov, Garegin 1890 births 1941 deaths People from Qusar District People from Baku Governorate Soviet Armenians Armenian communists Soviet diplomats Moscow State University alumni Great Purge victims from Armenia Armenian people executed by the Soviet Union People executed by the Soviet Union by firearm Members of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union executed by the Soviet Union