Oprichnik
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-->Oprichnik (опричник) was a member of a private army (Oprichniks) devoted to the service of tsar Ivan the Terrible during the oprichina times (1565-1573).
The Oprichniks were responsible for the torture and murder of many innocent people in Russia. Guided by Ivan, they laid waste to civilian populations. It is said that they dressed all in black and bore the insignia of a dog's head and a broom. Also, they used to ride black horses in order to inspire terror. The dog symbolized their loyalty to the tsar (Oprichniks were sometimes called "Tsar's Dogs", both the name and the symbol - allusions, likely deliberate, to Dominicans, "dogs of the Lord"), and the broom meant that his enemies would be swept away.
During the course of Ivan's reign, he hand-selected the Oprichnik from the worst Russia had to offer. It is said that every single one of the Oprichnik were murderers, thieves and rapists acting as political police to serve the will of Ivan the Terrible. When Ivan declared himself as the hand of God, 300 of the Oprichniks were selected to be his personal monks that lived within Ivan's castle. Every night at 3 am these Oprichnik monks would attend a sermon given by Ivan himself before the morning's ritual executions. The Oprichnik monks would lead an ascetic lifestyle, like the monks they emulated, but there would be rash outbreaks of vile cruelty and eroticism.
In the infamous Novgorod incident, the Oprichniks massacred 3000 or more innocent "big people". The real figure is unknown.
The Oprichniks are also often referred to as the forerunners of the Okhranka (Tsarist police of the 1800's),NKVD, Gestapo, KGB and in general the world's more notorious secret police organizations; in addition to Papa Doc of Haiti's Ton Ton Machoutes.
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