on the occasion of Kotovsky's departure, the red commanders who lived in the neighborhood decided to give him a solemn farewell. Kotovsky's wife recalled the moment of the murder: A bullet shot by a murderer from a revolver hit Kotovsky in the aorta. Death came instantly. Neighbors came running at the shots. The murderer soon appeared himself. Kotovsky's son recalled: At dawn of the same day, Zayder was arrested. During the investigation and at the trial he fully admitted his guilt, however, he often changed his testimony. So, during the investigation, he claimed that he had shot Kotovsky out of jealousy, and at court stated that he had killed him because he had not raised him up the ranks. The trial took place in August 1926. Zayder was sentenced to 10 years in prison. From the verdict, the charges were excluded in cooperation with the Romanian special services. The punishment of Meyer Zayder was serving in the Kharkiv pre-trial detention center, he soon became the head of the prison club and was transferred to an unconditional system of detention and was given the right to freely exit from prison to the city. In 1928, not having stayed in prison and three years, Zayder was released on parole for exemplary behavior. After his release, he got a job as a railway wagon co-driver. In the fall of 1930, the 3rd Bessarabian Cavalry Division, stationed in Berdichev, celebrated the tenth anniversary of its military path. On the occasion of the jubilee, a holiday and maneuvers were to be held, veterans of the division were invited, including the widow of Grigory Kotovsky, Olga Petrovna, who had once served as a doctor in his brigade. One evening three of her former colleagues came to her and said that Meyer Zayder had sentenced them to death. Kotovskaya tried to object to them, saying that Zayder was the only witness to the murder of her husband, and in no case could he kill him, but her arguments did not convince those who prepared the murder. Intending to prevent them, Kotovskaya turned to the division commander Mishuk and the Political Department of the division. Soon it became known that Meyer Zayder was killed in Kharkiv, not far from the local railway station. His corpse was found on the canvas of the railway. It is likely that, strangling him, the murderers threw Zayder on the rails in the