in the absence of any evidence even slightly resembling the truth, it will be too difficult for you to say: ‘Yes, guilty.’ It is better to let ten who are guilty go, than to punish one who is innocent—do you hear, do you hear this majestic voice from the last century of our glorious history?
These words speak in a way to the whole problem of unjust suffering that has been a central theme of the book. The words are Peter the Great's, taken from his "Military Code" of 1716. They echo what Ivan said about not wanting to live in a world in which one innocent person will suffer.
