Executions of Cossacks in Lebedin

Executions Cossacks in Lebedin (Ukrainian: Катівня в Лебедині), (Russian: Казни казаков в Лебедине) was a large scale execution of Ukrainian Cossacks suspected of having sided with Hetman Ivan Mazepa after his break with Tsar Peter I during the Great Northern War. Cossack officials summoned to the Council of Hlukhiv who did not report to it were arrested, tortured and executed for treason. The exact number of victims is not known, but the minutes of the historical accounts indicate at least 900.

The persecutions started with a decree by Tsar Peter issued on November 1, 1708 which read "And those who by this Decree, having forgotten the fear of God and the Oath to Us, the Great Tsar, and the wholeness and indivisibility of the Motherland from him, the thief and traitor Mazepa, and from this enemy shall not depart, and to Us, the Great Tsar, would not return in the course of this month, i.e. by the 1st of December 1708, shall be declared our and our Motherland's traitors. And their titles and estates and all belongings shall be confiscated and given to the faithful ones for their service. And the wives and children [of the traitors] shall be sent into internal exile. And those caught shall be executed without mercy." Consequently, an investigative commission was set up by Peter I in Lebedin. The commission was presided by Alexander Menshikov All those suspected of loyalty to Mazepa, including those who did not report to the Hlukhiv Rada council, were taken to Lebedin for torture and execution. Archbishop Konissky wrote:

After Mazepa sided with the Swedes, Peter I issued a decree, which supposedly led to the torture and executions in Lebedin. "The decree for army sergeants who had left with the Swedes to Mazepa" from 1 November 1708 as:

"And those who by this Decree, having forgotten the fear of God and the Oath to Us, the Great Tsar, and the wholeness and indivisibility of the Motherland from him, the thief and traitor Mazepa, and from this enemy shall not depart, and to Us, the Great Tsar, would not return in the course of this month, i.e. by the 1st of December 1708, shall be declared our and our Motherland's traitors. And their titles and estates and all belongings shall be confiscated and given to the faithful ones for their service. And the wives and children [of the traitors] shall be sent into internal exile. And those caught shall be executed without mercy».

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Wikipedia