Alexei Mikhailovich Shchastny became the first person to receive a death sentence from the court of the Soviet republic and the first to be labeled an "enemy of the people." He was executed on June 22, 1918, at 4:40 AM in the courtyard of the Alexandrovsky School, where the Ministry of Defense is now located.

Leon Trotsky served as the sole witness and prosecutor in the trial against Shchastny, which took place on June 20-21, 1918. The accusation was as follows: "Shchastny, by committing a heroic feat, thereby created popularity for himself, intending to later use it against Soviet power."

Before his arrest and the start of the case, Shchastny led the famous Ice March, saving 236 ships of the Northern Fleet from capture by the Germans, which allowed Petrograd to be protected by the fleet. The march concluded in April, and by May 27, 1918, Leon Trotsky labeled Shchastny as a "criminal of exceptional state importance." Trotsky personally arrested him, acting as prosecutor and witness at the trial. Shchastny led the Baltic Fleet out of Helsingfors through the ice, contrary to the orders of Bolshevik leaders who commanded the fleet's destruction.