Editing Nikolai Mezentsov (section)

==Politics and assassination==
[[File:Sergius Stepniak by Elliott & Fry.jpg|thumb|[[Sergey Kravchinsky]], his assassin|upright|left]]
Mezentsov was active during the famous [[Trial of the 193]], in which university students were threatened with treason charges for having committed "disobedience". [[Alexander II of Russia|Alexander the Second]], considered by some to have been an enlightened monarch, gave light sentences, until Mezentsov, then Chief of State Police, suggested that they should be heavy sentences.  The emperor changed the sentences to heavier ones, and in response, Mezentsov was assassinated in 1878 by [[Sergey Kravchinsky]],<ref>Saunders, David (May 2005). "Sergey Mikhailovich Kravchinsky (1851–1895)". ''[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]] online edition''. Oxford University Press</ref> a member of the revolutionary group [[Land and Liberty (Russia)|Land and Liberty]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Tsarist and Communist Russia 1855–1964|last=Waller|first=Sally|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2015|isbn=978-0-19-835467-3|location=Oxford|pages=47}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
 | title=The Constitutional Movement in Russia
 | url=http://www.revoltlib.com/?id=142
 | author=Peter Kropotkin
 | publisher=The Nineteenth Century
 | website=revoltlib.com
 | date=1 January 1905
}}</ref>