Leontii Dubelt
Dubel’t, Leontii Vasil’evich
Born 1792; died Apr. 27 (May 9), 1862, in St. Petersburg. Chief of staff of the Corps of Gendarmes; from 1839 to 1856 director of the Third Section; member of the Central Board of Censorship and a secret committee on schismatics.
From 1807 to 1830, Dubel’t served in the army; he took part in the campaigns of 1807 and 1812-15. Dubel’t was one of the most reactionary figures of Nicholas I’s reign. He actively participated in the investigation of the Petrashevtsy case, as well as that of the Brotherhood of Cyril and Methodius. He persecuted A. S. Pushkin and T. G. Shevchenko and planned to let V. G. Belinskii “rot in prison.”