show trial

American  

noun

1. (especially in a totalitarian state) the public trial of a political offender conducted chiefly for propagandistic purposes, as to suppress further dissent against the government by making an example of the accused.

---

show trial British  

noun

1. a trial conducted primarily to make a particular impression on the public or on other nations, esp one that demonstrates the power of the state over the individual

---

Etymology

Origin of show trial

First recorded in 1945–50

Example Sentences

He said that survivors' "impressions of a show trial with no real outcome, with no-one being punished, was right".

From BBC

Foreign intervention, led by Austria and Prussia, fueled the descent into show trials and terror.

From The Wall Street Journal

There were show trials in Stalin’s Russia and other authoritarian regimes.

From Salon

"There has never been a show trial like this, I think, in the communist era," says David Brown, a retired US State Department official with long experience in Vietnam.

From BBC

“It’s a show trial. He’s already found the guy liable,” Marrus said.

From Salon