<P> Between 1936 and 1938, three very large Moscow Trials of former senior Communist Party leaders were held, in which they were accused of conspiring with fascist and capitalist powers to assassinate Stalin and other Soviet leaders, dismember the Soviet Union and restore capitalism . These trials were highly publicized and extensively covered by the outside world, which was mesmerized by the spectacle of Lenin's closest associates confessing to most outrageous crimes and begging for death sentences . </P> <Ul> <Li> The first trial was of 16 members of the so - called "Trotskyite - Kamenevite - Zinovievite - Leftist - Counter-Revolutionary Bloc", held in August 1936, at which the chief defendants were Grigory Zinoviev and Lev Kamenev, two of the most prominent former party leaders . Among other accusations, they were incriminated with the assassination of Sergey Kirov and plotting to kill Stalin . After confessing to the charges, all were sentenced to death and executed . </Li> <Li> The second trial in January 1937 involved 17 lesser figures known as the "anti-Soviet Trotskyite - centre" which included Karl Radek, Yuri Piatakov and Grigory Sokolnikov, and were accused of plotting with Trotsky, who was said to be conspiring with Germany . Thirteen of the defendants were eventually executed by shooting . The rest received sentences in labor camps where they soon died . </Li> <Li> There was also a secret trial before a military tribunal of a group of Red Army commanders, including Mikhail Tukhachevsky, in June 1937 . </Li> </Ul> <Li> The first trial was of 16 members of the so - called "Trotskyite - Kamenevite - Zinovievite - Leftist - Counter-Revolutionary Bloc", held in August 1936, at which the chief defendants were Grigory Zinoviev and Lev Kamenev, two of the most prominent former party leaders . Among other accusations, they were incriminated with the assassination of Sergey Kirov and plotting to kill Stalin . After confessing to the charges, all were sentenced to death and executed . </Li> <Li> The second trial in January 1937 involved 17 lesser figures known as the "anti-Soviet Trotskyite - centre" which included Karl Radek, Yuri Piatakov and Grigory Sokolnikov, and were accused of plotting with Trotsky, who was said to be conspiring with Germany . Thirteen of the defendants were eventually executed by shooting . The rest received sentences in labor camps where they soon died . </Li>

Who suffered as a result of the great purge