Nikolay Tess

Nikolay Vladimirovich Tess (, ; 1921 – December 7, 2006) was one of the few functionaries in charge of political repressions in the former Soviet Union who were convicted for this activity.

Biography Tess joined the Latvian division of the NKVD in May 1945, having previously seen combat during both the Winter War and World War II. At least eleven of the people deported died in exile.

Latvia gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. In 1998 Latvian authorities began investigating Tess' role in the deportations, and in March 2001 he was formally charged with genocide and crimes against humanity. Tess did not consider himself guilty, claiming that he was acting in the capacity for only 2 months and he was mainly in charge of verifying the match of the lists prepared by local administration against the Ministry lists. Many human rights groups also raised concerns that Tess and other minor officials had been selectively prosecuted in order to appease growing anti-Russian sentiment in the country.

Tess appealed his conviction to the Latvian Supreme Court (unsuccessfully), and then the European Court of Human Rights, arguing that his rights under the ECHR had been violated because genocide had not yet been criminalised in 1949.

Tess died in a Riga hospital on December 7, 2006, at the age of 86. Following his death, his wife and brother continued his appeal in order to clear his name.

In 2014, the European Court of Human Rights declared the application of Nikolay Tess inadmissible. Concerning the merits, the complaint was rejected due to non-exhaustion of domestic remedies – Tess had not contested the law the conviction was based on before the Constitutional Court.