Formerly, the local authorities refrained as a rule from putting the rioters on trial lest their testimony might implicate the local administration, and even when action was finally brought against them, the culprits mostly escaped with slight penalties, such as imprisonment for a few months.

But after the declaration of the Government in June the courts adopted a more rigorous attitude towards the rioters.

[1] In the summer of 1882, a number of cases arising out of the pogroms at Balta and in other cities were tried in the courts.

The penalties imposed by the courts were frequently severe, though fully deserved, such as deportation and confinement at hard labor, drafting into penal military companies, etc.

In one case, two soldiers, having been convicted of pillage and murder, were court-martialled and sentenced to death.