Vagarshak Ter Vaganyan

Vagarshak Arutyunovich Ter-Vaganyan (Armenian: Վաղարշակ Հարությունի Տեր-Վահանյան, 1893–1936) was an Armenian communist party leader who was one of the first victims of Joseph Stalin's Great Purge. Ter-Vaganyan was one of sixteen Soviet intellectuals who stood as defendants during the Moscow Show Trials. He was accused of being part of the Trotskyite-Zinovievite centre which allegedly prepared terrorist acts against Stalin, Klim Voroshilov, Andrei Zhdanov, Lazar Kaganovich, Sergo Ordzhonikidze, Stanislav Kosior, and Pavel Postyshev. Under pressure, Ter-Vaganyan was forced to admit his "guilt." He was shot and his personal property was confiscated by the Soviet Union.