On June 26, 1961, 25-year-old Yuri Kostikov, a senior foreman of the cold stamping section of the home refrigerator shop of the Ordzhonikidze defense plant in Murom, was returning home from work with his colleagues. It was payday, the mood was upbeat, so we decided, as usual, to celebrate this case at the Murom restaurant.
It began with stormy and enthusiastic discussions of Gagarin's recent flight into space. Then we got down to work and factory problems. We sat well, but it was time to go home.
Kostikov himself lived nearby, three blocks away, and he usually crossed this path on foot. However, this time he decided to drive a truck passing by, tried to jump into the back on the move, but, apparently, the drunk made itself felt: he fell off and fell onto the roadway.
The matter was aggravated by the fact that everything happened in front of the head of the city police department Pavlov - he was driving a car after the truck. Approaching Kostikov, who was lying on the asphalt, he asked how he was feeling. Now it is impossible to restore their dialogue, but the angry police chief ordered to send the drunk master without any examination to the local jail.
Perhaps there, Yuri, who was under the steam of alcohol, tried to defend his rights. There were rumors that the guards did not stand on ceremony with him. He was placed in cell no. 10, where those detained for petty hooliganism were sitting. After some time, the victim became ill and inmates demanded to call a doctor. The paramedic on duty did not deal with Kostikov, saying: they will sleep it off, everything will pass by itself. According to the inmates, they more than once demanded assistance to Yuri, but the doctor was relentless. Only in the morning Kostikov was taken to the hospital, where he died of a cerebral hemorrhage.
In Murom, rumors immediately spread that death was due to serious injuries received in the police, but the guards categorically denied this. The plant workers began to murmur, demanding to find the culprits. The prosecutor and the forensic expert who spoke at the factory meeting called on the working people to calm down, said that the result of death was an accident, but these explanations did not satisfy the outraged people. The senior foreman of the home refrigerator workshop M. Demchenko demanded to invite specialists from the regional Vladimir and Moscow for a second examination.
Riots start
Promotional video:
The funeral was scheduled for the afternoon of June 30, 1961. A lot of colleagues and townspeople came to see Yuri Kostikov on his last journey: among colleagues he enjoyed authority, was a fair, sociable, demanding person. The funeral procession was supposed to pass along the central street, where the city department of internal affairs was located, but one zealous and uncompromising police officer tried to direct her through the back streets. This angered people, they flatly refused to follow her instructions. At about 5:30 pm, the funeral procession drew level with the building of the Murom Mountain Department of Internal Affairs. Shouts were heard from the crowd: "Pavlov is a murderer!", "Hit the bastards!", "Hit the fascists!", "Hit the police!" Stones flew through the windows, several men rushed to the police UAZ and turned it over. The noise attracted the townspeoplethe crowd in front of the police building grew rapidly. The overturned car became a kind of tribune, to which one after another the speakers rose, branding and scourging the police and the authorities. Irritated Sergei Denisov called those gathered to storm the police department. Soon several dozen residents, armed with axes, stones, crowbars and other improvised means, burst into the building. They took the service weapons from the police officers and began to destroy everything. They broke furniture, smashed phones and typewriters, and destroyed official documents. The thugs managed to knock down the doors of the pre-trial detention cells, releasing 48 people, although some of the inmates, having learned that it was a riot, flatly refused to leave the cells. The weapons room was also hacked. The attackers seized 68 firearms and about a thousand live rounds. Fortunately, they were not used. The rioters set fire to the GOVD building and, blocking the street, did not allow fire engines to approach it. All attempts of police officers and vigilantes to stop the riots ended in failure: they were simply beaten. Ryasin, the deputy chief of the Murom GOVD, also received grievous bodily harm. The riots spread to the neighboring streets, the rioters made their way to the office of the KGB representative in the city. The chairman of the city executive committee Sorokin, who promised to investigate everything and punish the guilty, was booed. Ryasin, the deputy chief of the Murom GOVD, also received grievous bodily harm. The riots spread to the neighboring streets, the rioters made their way to the office of the KGB representative in the city. The chairman of the city executive committee Sorokin, who promised to investigate everything and punish the guilty, was booed. Ryasin, the deputy chief of the Murom GOVD, also received grievous bodily harm. The riots spread to the neighboring streets, the rioters made their way to the office of the KGB representative in the city. The chairman of the city executive committee Sorokin, who promised to investigate everything and punish the guilty, was booed.
Anger and confusion
In the midst of the pogrom, Tikhon Sushkov, the chairman of the Vladimir regional executive committee, arrived in Murom. He was amazed: a burning city department building, a huge crowd of people with crazy eyes. The militiamen fled, the city authorities were completely demoralized. Sushkov three times gathered the party activists of the city in order to develop a certain plan for restoring order, but no intelligible proposals were received. And then Sushkov, taking with him the secretaries of the city committee Gorelov, Budkin and the chairman of the city executive committee Sorokin, went out to the people. He promised the townspeople to figure everything out, but they did not believe him, and the city prosecutor Trandafilov, who entered into an altercation with the rebels, was simply dragged from the rostrum car and, in addition, beaten.
Through the street loudspeakers, the calls of the authorities and respected citizens were constantly heard to stop the riots. But all this did not bring results.
Sobering
Troops arrived from Moscow, but no order was received to open fire on unarmed people. The rioting crowds were surrounded by soldiers, who were ordered not to succumb to provocations. There were several such places in the city. Hands clasped, the soldiers stood silently in front of the raging crowd. This tactic gave a positive result: the intensity of unrest gradually subsided, people began to slowly disperse. By nightfall, the streets were deserted. Moore was patrolled by cadets of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, soldiers, vigilantes. The sale of alcohol in the city was strictly prohibited.
The next day, an investigation team of eight KGB investigators with a senior investigator for particularly important cases from the central KGB office began an investigation. Detentions started: 8 people were arrested and accused of riots. Then 11 more were detained, they were charged with minor hooliganism.
After a while, two show trials took place. The first trial began on August 3, 1961, the hall for 300 people in the Murom Builders' Club was packed, people even stood in the aisles. The consideration of the case lasted three days. The verdict was passed on August 11. Three of the defendants were sentenced to death, the rest, including three women and two participants in the Great Patriotic War, received lengthy prison terms. All petitions of those sentenced to death were rejected, and on September 4, 1961, the sentences were carried out. Party and city bosses lost their posts. Among them are the first secretary of the regional committee of the CPSU, heads of the KGB and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The management of the plant where the late Kostikov worked was also changed.
Do not give in to provocations
Parts of the internal troops were sent to Murom from Moscow. Fortunately, there was no order to use weapons, the soldiers only pushed the rioters from the central streets, from the city government buildings and from socially significant enterprises. The townspeople turned to conscripts: “Sons, before you are fathers and mothers! Who are you going to?"
Belated decision
The management of the plant allocated an unprecedented amount for the funeral of Yuri Kostikov - 2 thousand rubles. The trade union committee also made its contribution: organized a collection of money for commemoration and wreaths. An obituary was printed in the factory large-circulation "Forward". Nevertheless, the situation at the plant was heating up. The Murom city committee of the CPSU knew about this, but they were in no hurry to take the proper measures: a criminal case into the death of Yuri Kostikov was opened only three days later.
Magazine: All the mysteries of the world №19. Author: Victor Eliseev