Two Prosecutors (2025)

[bunniefuu]

This is your new brigade.

Some brigade!

They need three assistants each:

two to hold them up,

the third to move their legs.

Wake up!

These are the papers

the commander wants burned.

He's the one who's going to do it.

Do you have a cell that locks securely?

They all lock securely.

New locks.

Come on, take him.

Come on, move!

What's in the bag?

All the prison's secrets?

Or last year's construction

estimates?

None of your business,

you just have to burn it.

Got it?

Got it.

Get in.

You burn everything in this bag

in that stove.

And no funny business: you keep nothing.

Otherwise, it's a guaranteed month in the hole.

Got it?

Matches.

Here. That's enough for you.

You'll give me the box back.

Close it.

What is he in for?

S.H.E.

Well now! "Socially Harmful Element"?

And I thought he was

a lumberyard guard

who had a dirty trick

played on him by thieves. Wow!

Maybe he was

a madam in a brothel.

"Dear Comrade Stalin,

"My name is Smirnov,

"Ivan Sergeyevich,

"a member of the Bolshevik party

since before the Revolution.

"I am falsely accused of belonging

to the Trotskyist-Bukharinist bloc

"and confessions are being extorted from me

"during violent interrogations..."

"Dearest guide,

Comrade Stalin, we, the Pestrukhin

"brothers,

"kolkhoz workers,

former Red Army guards,

"are accused... of corrupting

"the Soviet state... extorting

"confessions under t*rture..."

What monsters! "We are devoted

"to the cause of the Communist Party

and have shed our blood...

"have shed our blood for it..."

Have shed our blood for it.

"Factory director...

"falsely accused...

"under t*rture...

"no strength left to bear...

"beg you to intervene...

"justice...

"communist."

Communist justice.

Communist... Justice.

BRYANSK REGIONAL PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE

"I request the representative of the prosecutor's office

"to visit me in my cell

"to communicate

vital information.

"Stepnyak, I.S."

You have to knock.

What do you want?

We're going to the boss.

Open up.

He's here to see the commander.

Come in.

Hello.

Hello.

Have a seat, Comrade Prosecutor.

I'm listening.

You have a prisoner here

named Ivan Stepnyak.

The prosecutor's office has received

a request for a visit from him.

Wow!

But we have tens of thousands

of inmates here.

Do you have the building number,

or the cell of this...

Ivan Stepnyak.

Yes: building 5, cell 84.

The Special Block?

You received a request

from the Special Block?

Yes, why?

No, just asking.

For no reason.

Excuse me.

Yes.

No.

Yes.

I don't know, ask Petrovich.

Again?

Put them in building 1.

No, not yet interrogated.

Yes.

I understand.

Alright.

Young man,

issuing a pass

to see an inmate

under the jurisdiction

of the Regional NKVD Directorate

can only be obtained

from the prison director.

I'm sorry,

but you'll have to come back

or wait for his return.

Will it be long?

Many meetings

take place at the directorate

regarding inmate assignments.

They usually last a long time.

I will wait.

Can I wait here?

Of course.

Especially since I have to go

to a building right now.

They are all overcrowded,

hence a massive amount of work.

So...

Don't be upset

that I'm leaving you alone here.

It's just the job.

Make yourself comfortable.

Thank you.

Open up.

Yes!

Do you know what Radek answered

in prison to:

"What were you doing

before the Revolution?"

No.

"I was waiting in prison."

And to the question:

"And after the Revolution?"

No.

"Prison was waiting for me."

So, what is it?

I have a young guy here

from the prosecutor's inspection office.

Have they already appointed the new one?

And?

He wants to see the inmate

in cell 84 of the SB.

Stepnyak?

How does he know

he's in that cell?

No idea.

Petrovich,

I have the new inspector

from the prosecutor's office here.

Yeah, they didn't waste time.

A young guy.

He wants to see an inmate

from the Special Block.

Alright.

Alright.

And if he insists?

Alright.

Did you hear what Radek said?

Yes, of course, I will send you a report.

Let him stew for a bit.

If he's still there by tonight,

bring him to me.

Very well.

"Prison was waiting for him!"

Don't just stand there, go work.

Come on, get to work!

Is the deputy not here?

No.

Where is he?

He had things to do.

And who are you?

I am a prosecutor.

And to whom do I have the honor?

It doesn't matter.

Well?

The director is expecting you.

Open up.

Yes?

He's here.

Come in, please.

Sorry to have kept you waiting,

but I was held up by my superiors.

We live in difficult times,

as you are well aware.

Please, have a seat.

Pleased to meet you.

We are used to seeing older people

in this position,

but times are changing

and our ideas

about what young people can do

are obsolete.

Let's just say the whole state apparatus

is undergoing a rejuvenation.

And where do we stand with the request

I submitted?

You were undoubtedly informed of it.

Yes, of course, I was informed.

But, you see,

I think your meeting

with the inmate

should be postponed

to better days.

For what reason?

Actually,

given the overcrowding

of this prison

- which you cannot be unaware of -,

it is sometimes impossible

to respect sanitary standards.

Hence frequent outbreaks

of infectious diseases:

diphtheria, typhoid,

and sometimes even typhus.

Which is particularly severe

in the unfortunate building 5,

which we call among ourselves

the Special Block,

because that is where the convicts

for counter-revolutionary activities are held.

And it is precisely among them

that a medley of infectious diseases

proliferates.

I strongly advise against

even taking a single look in there

for anyone

whose duties do not require it.

But doing what my duties require

is exactly why I am here.

Yes, of course.

What I meant to say was that...

If a guard, for example,

cannot miss his shift,

a prosecutor, conversely,

can completely postpone

an interview with an inmate.

Without it affecting

the substance of the case.

But if I strongly advise against it,

it is because this inmate

that Comrade Kornev wants to see

is likely, according to the doctors,

to be a carrier of one of these diseases.

In that case, this inmate should be

transferred to the prison hospital.

That is necessary

if the inmate shares his cell.

But Stepnyak,

this dangerous state criminal,

is alone in his cell.

This kind of patient,

if it is not essential

to place him under medical observation

or to operate on him,

is generally treated in his cell.

Until disinfection,

especially in the case of a contagious disease,

it's better if only those

whose job requires it enter.

I have already spoken with the chief medical officer

about transferring the inmate to the visiting room

where lawyers go, but...

he opposes it.

Such a transfer

would go against sanitary rules

and would be highly detrimental

to the patient.

What disease is Stepnyak suffering from?

The doctors are not yet sure,

but it's intestinal.

Perhaps typhoid.

Typhoid?

But that's not so serious.

I don't intend to shake his hand

or eat from his bowl.

So you insist on seeing

immediately

inmate Stepnyak?

Yes, I insist.

SB 5, in my office immediately.

You have just been appointed?

Yes, three months ago.

Do you know where your predecessor is?

Yes!

Take Comrade...

Kornev.

Kornev, Prosecutor Kornev

to the inmate in cell 84.

Take Comrade Prosecutor

to inmate Stepnyak,

cell 84.

We must strictly comply

with the demands

of the prosecutor's inspection office.

I am delighted

that our new prosecutor

is such a tenacious

young man.

But I deplore

your lack of precaution.

There are diseases

where water and soap are of no help.

What do you mean?

Just this.

That one must never forget

the danger of contagion.

I'll do my best.

Good.

He is with me.

He is with me.

Open 84 for us.

Order from the prison director.

The prosecutor wants to see Stepnyak.

His name?

Kornev.

First names?

Alexander Mikhailovich.

Open up.

Citizen Stepnyak,

the prosecutor is here

to speak with you.

Show me

your professional ID, Citizen...

Prosecutor.

You don't trust

a representative of authority?

It's you

that I don't trust.

The inmate has the right to demand that from me.

Give the order to lower the bunk

so we can sit down.

Lower it, please.

And now,

tell them to leave us.

I will not speak

in the presence of a third party.

I am not a third party.

The regulations oblige me

to supervise the inmate.

You can do so through the peephole.

I don't intend

to attack the prosecutor.

But I insist

on the secrecy of our conversation.

It is my right.

Leave us, please,

it is his right.

Leave us.

I can barely stand.

I am here following this request.

Is this yours?

Yes...

I must have broken

the joint of my hand

on that piece of iron.

There is nothing sharp here.

Before making yourself bleed,

you must have asked for something to write with?

Yes...

but they refuse.

Allow me to ask you

how this request got out of here.

If it's your secret, don't answer.

What secret?

I gave it to the guard,

as they say, by the grace of God,

and it...

Good heavens!

It left these walls.

Are you really from the prosecutor's office?

I showed you my ID.

The investigation department

of the Regional NKVD Directorate

can manufacture anything!

Perhaps this document

will dispel your distrust.

So you studied law.

Are you a graduate?

Yes. For three months.

And how did you get to the prosecutor's office?

I was assigned there.

That means that, at the prosecutor's office,

our famous organs

have done a good job,

if, in positions like that,

it's rookies like you

that they're assigning.

Ivan Stepanovich...

Last year, for the 100th anniversary,

you gave a speech.

Yes...

Indeed,

I came to the university.

And so?

You said

that Soviet legality

was part of the Bolshevik truth.

And that we, future jurists,

must fight for this truth.

I was all ears

and I understood that it wasn't

just a pretty phrase.

You understood well.

That was exactly it.

We tore each other apart for it,

for this truth

of the workers and peasants,

with the White Russians.

Either we hid in pillboxes

under their fire,

or the gallows

awaited us.

But, today,

does the fight for Soviet legality

no longer entail any dangers?

My boy, you don't seem

stupid at all to me.

And since you're not stupid

and you came here,

it also means you are honest

and not a coward.

Are you married, by any chance?

No.

Do you still have your father and mother?

No, they are dead.

Then listen carefully

to what I am going to tell you.

But look first

at what the NKVD did to me.

Don't open your eyes too wide.

It's better if the other guy behind the door

doesn't see this.

There you go, kid.

Did you see what I'm spitting?

My urine is red too.

It was the same, during the Revolution.

One day, rich peasants

beat me up badly.

Except I was young at the time,

all curly-haired.

I recovered from it.

Whereas now,

if they add more to it,

I won't recover.

Besides, it wouldn't serve any purpose anymore.

What did you do to suffer this?

Not "what", but "why".

I'm the kind of guy

who's not easy to deal with.

I refuse for myself

as well as for other innocent people

to sign death sentences.

And yet, that's the only thing

they want from me...

these devious fascists from the NKVD.

The building dedicated to the investigation

and the internal prison

have become an immense dungeon.

Thousands of innocent people

are subjected to unimaginable...

beatings,

to the t*rture of being deprived

of food, of sleep,

just so they sign

false statements

against themselves

and against others.

Honest people declare themselves guilty

of crimes

that are beyond their comprehension,

and the cases go to the courts

which act on orders from this same NKVD.

They are particularly cruel

with the old Party members.

In our region, they have massacred

almost all the local cadres.

I think I am the last...

member of the Regional Committee

who is still

in this world.

And it's just because I am

more stubborn than the old members

and because I haven't signed anything.

They wanted me to sign that,

during the w*r with the Germans,

I was a secret agent for Petliura.

Except sh**ting their victim

without having obtained from them

the confession of these invented crimes,

the local fascists cannot do.

People must

slander themselves.

Obviously,

it's important for the reports

to the governing bodies.

"See how our vigilance

"allows us to nip in the bud

sedition in our own house!"

They are afraid of revelations.

And try to make everything happen

as the law requires.

Beating a stubborn suspect

to death,

costs them nothing,

these NKVD executioners,

but to them it's

an unfortunate blunder.

That's why people like me,

they put them in a glass case

hoping that these people

with crushed innards

won't last long.

When I die, it will be written

that it is of course due

to heart failure

in this very prison.

They are the enemies of the people,

these NKVD saboteurs.

They don't damage machine tools,

nor do they set fire to factories.

But the old leaders

devoted to the Party,

they replace them

with young, loud-mouthed careerists.

And honest and conscientious

specialists

with narrow-minded ignoramuses.

It's not for me

that I'm asking you this.

I'm done for, anyway.

But the cause of our Revolution

torments me to the core.

If you are truly

a true Bolshevik

not a coward,

and an honest Soviet jurist,

leave immediately for Moscow

and get an audience with Stalin.

If you can't manage that,

go find any member

of the Politburo:

Yezhov, Voroshilov,

Molotov...

And tell them that, here,

the cream of the Party is being exterminated.

Hundreds of thousands

of honest Soviet citizens!

And don't dawdle.

You managed to get

this meeting with me and...

they are not going to leave you in peace.

You won't even have time

to turn around

before you yourself

will similarly end up in the clink.

Open up.

He left.

He'll be at your place soon.

Wait.

Yes.

This work, it has to be done beforehand,

not after the fact.

We're training little morons.

After the battle,

in 1916, the one at Kovel,

my good sir,

they amputated my arm and my leg.

Back then, there was nothing set up

for the wounded.

The small allowance for invalids

came much later.

So I tell myself, I need a job,

except I only have my left hand.

I went to find my father.

He tells me:

"I don't have enough to feed you."

Can you imagine?

I wandered around for a good year

and I decided

to go to St. Petersburg,

my good sir,

to ask Lenin if there might be a way

to benefit from proletarian charity,

seeing as we can still say

that I shed my blood,

that I sacrificed my life.

And did Lenin give you charity?

Wait, don't go too fast.

The young man has knowledge,

we have to proceed in order.

Anyway, finally, from convoys

to government wagons,

I ended up arriving,

my good sir,

in St. Petersburg.

Can you imagine the sight?

A grunt covered in lice

who finds himself in the capital,

which has, if I may say so,

no equal in the world.

Suddenly, before him,

Nevsky Prospect, can you imagine,

Pea Street, doggone it,

and Foundry Street,

the Admiralty spire.

The bridges are open,

straight up, without touching.

A real Scheherazade tale,

my good sir.

Stop it, you one-armed man!

You, maybe you've already seen it all,

but the kid hasn't even

set foot there yet.

Maybe he hasn't even touched a chick.

Huh?

I start looking for housing,

except it's unaffordable.

Now, me,

my entire fortune,

is just

10 poor 5-ruble assignats.

I ended up going to the Revel hotel

at 1 ruble a day.

Cabbage soup and beaten meat.

I tell myself I won't get far like this.

I ask where to go.

I'm told: "Go to Smolny, then,

"go see Lenin directly,

"at the very heart of Soviet power.

"That's where it is,

true justice."

Who is the idiot

- who led you to believe that?

- Shut up, you complete a*s.

Listen instead. Up at the crack of dawn,

I scraped my beard off

with my left hand,

- because paying a barber is also,

in its own way, spending money -,

I put on my little uniform

and, with my little wooden leg,

off I go!

Do you get the picture?

I'm going to see Lenin

at Smolny.

And there! Mirrors, vases,

all-white ceilings,

columns, priceless marbles,

and people running everywhere.

They let me in with difficulty

and tell me to fend for myself.

I struggle like a devil.

Everyone has seen Lenin,

but nobody knows where he is.

I end up turning up with my wooden leg

in an antechamber,

I stick myself in a corner

so as not to knock over

America or India

in golden earthenware vases.

I must have stayed there

a good four hours

and, finally, an aide-de-camp

or a duty officer

comes out and says:

"Lenin is coming to the antechamber!"

The antechamber is more packed than ever.

They are all decorated and smoking

some nasty tobacco. Running everywhere.

We hear shush-shush!

And suddenly!...

A dead silence settles in.

Lenin arrives.

And so?

Can you imagine?

The statesman himself.

In person, if I may say so,

with the title that goes with it

and that expression, you understand.

Everyone there is standing straight

as an arrow, trembling as they wait

for a decision that, in its own way,

will seal their fates.

He approaches one,

then another.

"Why are you here?"

"And you, what brings you?"

And he approaches me.

I gather my strength:

"Here, Your Excellency,

"Guide of the Revolution,

"I shed my blood,

I lost an arm and a leg.

"I can't work

and ask for the monarch's charity."

Lenin's gaze pierces through me,

he sees my wooden leg,

my right sleeve pinned to the uniform.

"Well," he says,

"come back in a few days.

"We are always delighted

to receive the proletariat,

"even without an arm or a leg."

- No kidding!

- That's right!

That's what he said.

Yes...

"Come back then, my friend."

Then, I tell myself: "It's good,

"It's settled."

And then?

What, then?

What happened then?

Well, nothing.

What do you mean, nothing?

You seem to have been around the block,

you've even left all your teeth there,

but you don't understand a damn thing.

And Lenin, then?

Disappeared, Lenin!

I go back there once, twice,

and it's always the same old song:

"Tomorrow, tomorrow."

I got sick of it.

I made a hell of a racket,

I yelled, insulted!

And then, emerging from the cloud of tobacco,

a messenger arrives.

A two-meter colossus

with huge arms

like those of a carter

or a dentist.

He grabs me, poor wretch,

sticks me in a cart

and straight to the clink.

I lived at the State's expense

for a little while and they let me go.

Lenin had died in the meantime.

Now, I'm going to see Stalin.

Yes, it seems

he is the incarnation of goodness.

Because it's not for me

that, in a sense, I shed

my blood and sacrificed my life.

But you

who have knowledge, tell me:

do you think he's going to compensate me?

Huh?

Are you in line?

Young man,

are you looking for someone?

Yes.

Who?

The Prosecutor General.

I have business with him.

If that's the case,

you must know where his office is.

Yes?

Excuse me?

I'm looking for the exit. Where is it?

Down the stairs on the left.

Are you alright?

Yes.

I find that improper.

My dear friend!

You're here too! Congratulations!

I congratulate you!

I always believed in you

and always thought you'd go far!

You're really an ace!

And you've grown so much!

In every sense of the word,

obviously!

Do we know each other?

Let me introduce you:

Comrade Mrazovich.

And we studied together

and he has risen in the ranks.

Mrazovich.

Kornev.

That's right, Kornev, an artist,

a hell of an artist, even!

- Come see me.

- Alright.

He's not just anybody.

Go see him, if you have a problem.

When were you transferred? What department?

- I...

- I imagine, not in mine.

What are you here for,

if it's not a secret?

Excuse me,

but have we met somewhere?

Kornev, stop playing the fool.

Come see me later.

Office 312. Walk in without knocking.

Alright.

Yes, I'm listening.

Hello,

I've come to see the Prosecutor General.

Do you have an audience?

No.

Actually, Comrade Kornev,

the Prosecutor General only receives

by summons

from the Prosecutor General's Office.

So I cannot do anything

for you.

I've come from far away for a state matter

of the utmost importance.

Everyone who is here

is too.

Do you have a mission order?

No.

But...

it really is vital.

If that's the case,

why hasn't the prosecutor's office

Comrade Kornev reports to

requested an audience

with the Prosecutor General?

And why doesn't Comrade Kornev

have a mission order

stating that he must go

to the Prosecutor General's Office?

I can't even put you

on the list

of people with a doubtful request

which the Prosecutor General alone judges.

I am a Party member

and I come to inform the Prosecutor General

of a vital matter

of extreme urgency.

Furthermore, I must see him alone,

face to face.

Impossible to record this in writing,

as you suggest.

It is in your interest

to take this seriously.

- Thank you.

- Goodbye.

Please.

- Come in.

- Thank you.

Very well.

I will speak to the Prosecutor General

and inform you of his decision.

Wait in the antechamber,

please.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Goodbye.

Comrade Zavtrakin!

Please.

Come in, please.

- Thank you, goodbye.

- Goodbye.

Comrade Smirnov!

You are lucky.

Comrade Prosecutor General,

against all odds,

agrees to see you.

But remember

that this is one of the busiest people

in the state.

You must therefore be very concise

and not waste the Comrade

Prosecutor General's time.

Two-three minutes, no more.

I'm listening.

My name is Kornev.

I am a prosecutor at the Bryansk prosecutor's office,

in charge of inspecting

places of detention.

There I have established

the commission of violations

of socialist legality

by the Directorate

of State Security

during the investigation

of counter-revolutionary crimes

as well as violations

of detention rules

for prisoners suspected of such crimes.

Continue.

I have been informed of beatings,

numerous and cruel,

of an inmate

during interrogations carried out

by the Regional NKVD Directorate.

There is every reason to believe that

such beatings

and other ill*gal methods

during the investigation

conducted by this Directorate

are of a systematic nature.

As indirect proof, I cite

the deprivation of inmates

in the region's political prisons

of the possibility to complain

to the appropriate authorities.

This is perhaps

the only request that has reached

the prosecutor's office from the political section

of the municipal prison.

The material this complaint is on

and what was used to write it

speak for themselves.

BRYANSK REGIONAL PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE

And why inform me

of these violations

and not the regional prosecutor?

Because I do not believe

in the determination

of the regional prosecutor's office to interfere

in the affairs of the local NKVD.

I fear, moreover, that this prosecutor's office

would neither want nor even be able

to defend a collaborator,

who had tried to interfere in this way,

from reprisals.

Obtaining the prosecutor's approval

to arrest an undesirable person

has become in our region

a pure formality.

And therefore, going to my superior

was for me

not only practically useless,

but would have been almost suicidal.

And I decided

to turn to you as a

state official, but above all

as an honest Party member.

And, in your opinion, with what purpose

are the violations committed

that you suspect in your region?

Comrade Vyshinsky,

I am sure that,

at the regional NKVD,

a group of counter-revolutionaries

is operating

pretending to be Stalinist Chekists.

Abusing their position,

they exterminate the best people

by accusing them of imaginary crimes.

They thus undermine

the local economy,

the administrative management

and discredit Soviet legality

in the eyes of the people.

The governing bodies

of the whole region

are destabilized and terrified

by these criminals.

Especially the officials

of the prosecutor's office and the courts.

I don't exclude that some,

perhaps against their will,

are executing their instructions.

Yet, anyone who could

expose

the devious malice of the acts

of the regional security organs

is preventively arrested

and, in large part,

no doubt already eliminated.

The devoted Party cadres

are replaced

by incompetent youths,

but loyal to the NKVD.

And, if one of them discovers

an incongruity,

they prefer to act

as if nothing had happened:

"Forget us and we'll forget you."

A true system,

Comrade Vyshinsky.

Perhaps some opportunists

have been circumvented

by their ascent

due neither to their skills

nor to their experience.

I could have followed their example,

but I am prevented from doing so

by my conscience as a Soviet citizen,

as a Party member

and as a Soviet jurist.

I cannot remain inactive

before crimes

committed massively

and relentlessly.

The intervention of the Prosecutor General's Office

must stop them.

I think

that it's a destructive process

that must stop immediately.

So you want the Prosecutor General's Office

to launch an investigation,

at once,

into the counter-revolutionary activity

of the security organs

in your region, is that right?

Exactly, Comrade Vyshinsky.

That could be possible

if it were a private individual

or some state authority.

But this Commissariat

for Internal Affairs has, today,

special powers

and enjoys virtual autonomy.

Investigating one of its members,

even the Prosecutor General's Office of the USSR

can only do so with the agreement

of the leadership of these organs

or that of the NKVD.

If documents prove

violations in any one

of the departments of this Commissariat,

its leadership will not refuse

to launch criminal proceedings

against those who committed them.

Comrade... Kornev?...

... says he saw traces of t*rture

on the body of an inmate?

Can you have these observations

confirmed

by a certified medical examination?

Comrade Vyshinsky, it is the inmate

who wrote to the regional prosecutor's office

with his blood.

He is an old Bolshevik

and a former leading Party official.

I would like to explain

to Comrade Prosecutor General

that I was only able to access his cell

after overcoming

the reluctance of the director

who was loath to have this meeting happen.

And this director would surely have found

pretexts to delay

this medical examination,

just long enough to lock me up too.

I have no doubt

that this director and his deputies

are in cahoots

with the regional NKVD directorate.

And I chose to rely solely

on the trust

placed in my statement

by the Prosecutor General.

And I sincerely did not know

that a secret investigation

concerning an NKVD official

required written documents.

Yes,

for a jurist,

you act carelessly.

But the situation can be fixed.

Go back home

and send to the Prosecutor General's Office

the medical examination

of the inmate subjected, according to you,

to ill*gal methods

of interrogation.

I promise you that the investigation

will begin at once.

But...

if I return empty-handed,

since I will have broken

the hierarchical rules,

I will immediately be

fired and arrested.

The counter-revolutionaries of the regional

NKVD will not want

to leave a man free

who knows about their crimes.

Give Comrade Kornev

a document certifying that I received him.

On behalf of the prosecutor's office

of the region he depends on.

That will be enough for you

to proceed with actions

related to this case

without risks to your safety.

And provide a train ticket

for Comrade Kornev

on the Prosecutor General's reserve.

Everything that was said here,

make a brief report of it,

but detailed.

It will be attached to the document

we talked about.

Put this down too.

Such a document

could be of great help.

Well?

Later.

Get in.

To the station!

It's here.

- Good evening.

- Good evening.

Is this your seat?

Number 5.

Excuse me. I...

- You can leave that.

- No, no...

I'll sit here.

We're off.

Are you from Moscow?

Me? No.

- Where from, then?

- From Bryansk.

Student?

Before, yes. Now, I work.

As what?

I am a lawyer,

a member of the bar association.

Prosecutor assigned to the inspection office.

What does that involve?

When citizens complain,

I make sure that everything is done

according to the law.

A very fine profession, comrade.

Necessary.

And Moscow?

Was it for a girl?

No, no.

What for,

if it's not a secret?

For work. At the prosecutor's office.

In Moscow?

Is there no prosecutor's office in Bryansk?

For an audience

with the Prosecutor General.

Vyshinsky?

Yes.

Petya, so young and already

at the Prosecutor General's!

We haven't been introduced yet.

- Petya.

- Alexander. Nice to meet you.

- And Vasya.

- Vasily.

Alexander. Nice to meet you.

Wait...

I'll be right back.

Chief, bring us a glass.

No, comrade, I don't drink.

You don't drink?

Soviet legality,

what a sin not to honor it!

Come on!

Thank you.

You wouldn't have a guitar?

No, but I have sugar.

What a joker!

Come on!

So that order prevails!

To order!

Here, eat.

Thank you.

And you, your profession?

We are liquidators.

We are engineers.

In Moscow. A design bureau.

- That's right.

- We design factories.

We design the future, in a word.

Architects.

Also. We can do anything.

We are rebuilding a factory in Bryansk.

- It's difficult... Big factory.

- Mechanical engineering?

- "Trade Union Plant".

- Foreign technology.

Hence the hitches, the misunderstandings.

A month ago,

a new assembly line

was supposed to go into service,

but: problem.

So we're going to see what happened:

simple mistake or sabotage?

You know that better than we do.

Sometimes, we don't know if it's

a technical error or sabotage.

An engineer looks ordinary:

family, kids, job.

Nothing to complain about,

except that actually he's a saboteur.

I wouldn't believe it

if they didn't confess.

- It's getting worse and worse.

- Yes.

It's the times we live in.

You deal with the enemies.

How do you know

if someone is one or not?

There are procedures.

An investigation is launched

when the crime is established.

If it is established. And if...

it hasn't been committed yet,

but the enemy is known, what to do?

According to Roman law,

there is the presumption of innocence.

And if, afterwards, there is sabotage?

Impossible to judge someone

without an established crime.

Then what?

Do we wait for him to commit it?

I understand your question.

Comrade Prosecutor...

Alexander.

We must be vigilant

and firmly hold the punitive sword

of Soviet legality.

We do not punish...

We investigate, accuse

and, if appropriate, the court punishes.

- Clear things up.

- That's right.

To vigilance!

Eat.

Thank you.

Who asked for a guitar?

Chief! Thank you! Well there you go!

Except we would need...

- Ah yes.

- Thank you.

Sing our song.

Morning meets us with a chill

And the river in the catching wind

Curly-haired girl, doesn't it delight you

This cheerful song of the siren?

Come on, get up, curly-haired girl!

Buzzing in the workshops

The country rises with glory

And praises this new day of hope

The team will welcome us

working

And you will greet your friends smiling

Whose labor, worries you share

The counterplan and even life

Beyond the Narva gate

It thunders and glows red

The country rises with glory

And praises this new day of hope

... this new day of hope

And with it

until the glorious victory

You will pass, playful youth,

Before the relief comes

Other youngsters driven by this dream

Who will surge into this prosperous life

And come to replace the fathers

The country rises with glory

And praises this new day of hope

With such a beautiful speech

Proclaim your truth to the world around you

We are going to meet life

Work, smiling love

Is it a sin to love, curly-haired girl?

When, at the first chime,

The country rises with glory

And praises this new day of hope

The country rises with glory

And praises this new day of hope

Get up, comrade,

we arrive in half an hour.

Comrade Ivanov?

- That's me.

- Comrade Petrov?

- You are from the Directorate?

- Absolutely.

He is with you?

Comrade Kornev.

Hello.

Do you have a car?

Comrades, could you drop me off?

Shall we drop him off, Vasya?

Let's go.

Thank you.

Are there chicks in this town?

Yes, of course.

Pretty ones?

Pretty ones too.

Easy to fish for?

To fish for what?

You don't get it?

You've never fished one?

I am single.

Ah, so that's it.

- And you've never tried, is that it?

- What's the question?

Don't be shy. We're among ourselves.

He certainly won't say anything.

Come on, out with it!

Have you done it or are you a virgin?

We shouldn't have turned there.

I won't let you go if you don't tell.

Come on, out with it! Yes or no?

We're all ears,

aren't we, Vasya!

Where are we going?

We're taking you.

To clear things up.

If appropriate.

Open the door!

Calm down, Kornev.

You are under arrest.