Smirnov, Lev

Smirnov, Lev Nikolaevich 

Born June 8 (21), 1911, in St. Petersburg. Soviet jurist and state and public figure. Chairman of the Supreme Court of the USSR since 1972. Member of the CPSU since 1945.

From 1934 to 1957, Smirnov worked in various agencies within the procuratorial system. In 1945 and 1946 he was assistant chief prosecutor for the USSR at the Nuremberg Trials and from 1946 to 1948 he was deputy prosecutor for the USSR at the Tokyo Trial of Leading Japanese War Criminals. From 1957 to 1962 he was deputy chairman of the Supreme Court of the USSR, and from 1962 to 1972 chairman of the Supreme Court of the RSFSR. In 1964 he became president of the Association of Soviet Jurists and a member of the council of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers. He was a deputy to the eighth and ninth convocations of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and a delegate to the Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth Congresses of the CPSU.

Smirnov has been awarded two Orders of Lenin, the Order of the October Revolution, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, and various medals.