Associated Press
MOSCOW — A Soviet general who defected to the Nazis during World War II was rightly hanged as a traitor after the war, Russia’s highest court ruled Thursday.
Gen. Andrei Vlasov was convicted of treason in 1946 and died on the gallows along with 11 of his aides in August of that year.
A motion to clear Vlasov of all charges was started after the 1991 Soviet collapse by a group of his supporters, who argued that Vlasov defected to wage a war against the repressive regime of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin.
But the military branch of Russia’s Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Vlasov and the 11 officers from his entourage were rightly convicted of high treason.
The court, however, cleared Vlasov and his aides of their conviction for "anti-Soviet propaganda," saying the Soviet-era accusation has no legal meaning in today’s Russia.
Chief military prosecutor Mikhail Kislitsyn strongly opposed clearing Vlasov in any form. "A person who betrayed his country will remain a traitor under any political regime," he said.
Nikolai Pastukhov, the presiding judge, agreed with the prosecutor.
"Some say that all who fought against Soviet power must be rehabilitated, but these people fought not only against the Soviet government, but against their country and the Red Army as well," Pastukhov said on Russian television.
Vlasov, born to a peasant family in 1900, became a general in 1940. Stalin promoted and decorated him for his part in the defense of Moscow in the fall of 1941, when the Red Army first routed Nazi troops.
In early 1942, Vlasov was placed in charge of the Soviet troops and given orders to break the Nazi siege of Leningrad. After several months of violent fighting, Vlasov’s troops were encircled and massacred by the Nazis, and he was captured in July 1942.
In captivity, Vlasov agreed to cooperate with the Nazis and formed the so-called Russian Liberation Army from Soviet prisoners of war, which took part in fighting on the Eastern Front against the Soviets.
In the closing days of the World War II, Vlasov’s troops turned against the Nazis, supporting the Czech rebellion in Prague. Vlasov surrendered his force to U.S. troops but was handed over to the Soviets along with his men.
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