Sure the Tsarist regime was very brutal and oppressive however it still had a somewhat functioning and somewhat independent judicial system (of course extrajudi

Sure the Tsarist regime was very brutal and oppressive however it still had a somewhat functioning and somewhat independent judicial system (of course extrajudicial murder/executions still occurred quite frequently but not even remotely as frequently as in the USSR). But more importantly in this case Nicholas didn’t have nearly as much direct power as Stalin did (he was extremely incompetent as outright stupid as a person) and had to rely on his government to actually make the tough decisions.