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Within the administration of theSoviet Union, theSpecial Council of the USSR NKVD (Russian:Особое совещание при НКВД СССР (ОСО),romanized: Osoboe soveshchanie pri NKVD SSSR, (OSO)) was created by the same decree ofSovnarkom of July 10, 1934 that introduced theNKVD itself. The decree endowed the Special Council with the right to apply punishments "by administrative means", i.e., without trial. In other words, the term "by administrative means" actually refers toextrajudicial punishment.
The following types of punishment were put at the disposal of the Special Council by this decree:banishment (высылка) (from the place of residence),exile (ссылка) (to remote regions), sentencing tocorrective labor camp (исправительно-трудовой лагерь) for up to five years, anddeportation (высылка) from theUSSR.
In 1937, during theGreat Purge, the Special Council was allowed to sentence to imprisonment for up to eight years. The abolition of manyNKVD troikas in November 1938 saw the Special Council take over some of their functions.[1]In November 1941, after the beginning of thewar against Germany, the Special Council was allowed to sentence to imprisonment for up to 25 years or todeath. After the 1945 end of the war the Special Council lost the right to pass death-sentences; the maximum available punishment was 25 years of imprisonment.
When the NKVD was renamed in 1946, the Special Council remained within the corresponding organization, e.g., asSpecial Council of theMGB, etc.
After the death ofJoseph Stalin in March 1953, thePresidium of theSupreme Soviet of the Soviet Union abolished the Special Council in September 1953.[2]