Iona Emmanuilovich Yakir, (August 3, 1896 – June 11, 1937), was one of the highest ranking Red Army commanders to be swept up in the Great Purge. He started his military career during Russian Civil War, where he distinguished himself in fighting in the Ukraine. At the time of his arrest he was commander of the Kiev Military District and a full member of the Central Committee. As a member of the Central Committee, Yakir reportedly opposed the arrest of Nikolai Bukharin.
In 1937 he was accused of participating in Trotskyist Anti-Soviet Military Organization. Charged with, among other things, being a Nazi agent, he maintained his innocence, both in correspondence to Stalin and at his trial. He was executed on June 11. He was subsequently rehabilitated on January 31, 1957.
His wife was subsequently arrested and executed, as were several of his relatives. His son, then fourteen years old, was arrested shortly after his father's execution and spent a number of years in prison camps.
The purge had previously swept up much of Yakir's staff before reaching Yakir himself; after his execution it extended further to wipe out even more of the officer who had served under him. Much of those officers' work created under Yakir's command, including preparations for guerrilla activities in the event of an invasion of the Ukraine, was dismantled following his execution.