@randahl @cowman Selective law enforcement, the standard tool of dictators. Works well in corrupt societies where everyone has paid or taken bribes. Someone causes trouble? Corruption court it is!

@randahl No, but there's a story about Richelieu.

https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/23785/what-did-richelieu-mean-by-his-six-lines-quote

@randahl @cowman Thank you for putting the update in the original post.

@randahl @cowman I can assume why you’re looking for Russian proverb 😉 but Richelieu fits in nicely IMHO:

„If you give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest of men, I will find something in them which will hang him.“

@randahl Probably, it is

"был бы человек, а статья найдётся"
Google translation is VERY incorrect https://translate.google.com/?sl=auto&tl=en&text=%D0%B1%D1%8B%D0%BB%20%D0%B1%D1%8B%20%D1%87%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B5%D0%BA%20%D0%B0%20%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B0%D1%82%D1%8C%D1%8F%20%D0%BD%D0%B0%D0%B9%D0%B4%D1%91%D1%82%D1%81%D1%8F&op=translate

"gov can bring criminal charges to any person dead or alive" - this is my variant of translation, slightly widening.

@randahl Not really answering your question but there is another good one.
Stalin is quoted as saying, "Death solves all problems, no man, no problem."
These are values that many occupants of Ukraine apparently still relate with strongly…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalin:_Breaker_of_Nations

@randahl
I don't know if this is what you mean, but it sounds similar to a saying that is atributed to Andrey Vyshinsky.
See the last of cultural references on his wikipedia page:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrey_Vyshinsky

@randahl I have heard that one also. If I come across the whole quote, I’ll send it along. I think I heard about it or read it back when I was reading Gulag Archipelago.