International Military Tribunal for the Far East

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International Military Tribunal for the Far East

The International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE), also known as the Tokyo Trial, the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal or simply as the Tribunal, was convened to try

Criminal procedure

'Criminal procedure' refers to the legal process for adjudication claims that someone has violated criminal law....
the leaders of the Empire of Japan

Empire of Japan

The Empire of Japan was a Japanese political entity that existed during the period from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until its defeat in World War II in 1945....
for three types of crimes: "Class A" (crimes against peace), "Class B" (war crime

War crime

War crimes are "violations of the laws or customs of war"; including but not limited to "murder, the ill-treatment or deportation of civilian residents of an occupied territory to slave labor camps", "the murder or ill-treatment of prisoner of war", the killing of hostages, "the wanton destruction of cities, towns and villages, and any devast...
s), and "Class C" (crimes against humanity), committed during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
. The first refers to their joint conspiracy to start and wage the war, and the latter two refer to atrocities including the Nanking Massacre

Nanking Massacre

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Encyclopedia

The International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE), also known as the Tokyo Trial, the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal or simply as the Tribunal, was convened to try

Criminal procedure

'Criminal procedure' refers to the legal process for adjudication claims that someone has violated criminal law....
the leaders of the Empire of Japan

Empire of Japan

War crime

World War II

Nanking Massacre

The Nanking Massacre, commonly known as the Rape of Nanking, was a Genocide war crime committed by the Military of Japan in Nanjing , the then capital of the Republic of China, after it fell to the Imperial Japanese Army on December 13, 1937....
. War crimes charges against more junior personnel were dealt with separately, in other cities throughout the Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area and, with over 4 billion people, it contains more than 60% of the world's current human population....
-Pacific region.

The tribunal convened on May 3, 1946, and was adjourned on November 12, 1948.

Twenty-eight Japanese military and political leaders were charged with Class A crimes, and more than 5,700 Japanese nationals were charged with Class B and C crimes, mostly over prisoner abuse. The crimes perpetrated by Japanese troops and authorities in the occupation of Korea

Korea

Korea is a geographic area composed of two sovereign countries, a civilization, and a former state situated on the Korean Peninsula in East Asia....
and China

China

China is a Culture of China, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
, particularly Manchuria (Manchukuo

Manchukuo

Manchukuo was a puppet state in Manchuria and eastern Inner Mongolia. The region was the Qing Dynasty's historical homeland, created by former Qing Dynasty officials with help from Imperial Japan in 1932....
), were not part of the proceeding. China held 13 tribunals of its own, resulting in 504 convictions and 149 executions.

The Japanese Emperor Hirohito, and all members of the imperial family such as Prince Asaka

Prince Asaka

of Japan, was the founder of a oke of the Imperial Household of Japan and a career officer in the Imperial Japanese Army. A son-in-law of Emperor Meiji and an uncle-in-law of Emperor Showa , Prince Asaka was commander of Japanese forces in the final assault on Nanjing, then the capital city of Nationalist China in December 1937....
, were not prosecuted for any alleged involvement in any of the three categories of crimes. As many as 50 suspects, such as Nobusuke Kishi

Nobusuke Kishi

Nobusuke Kishi was a Japanese politician and the 56th and 57th Prime Minister of Japan from February 25, 1957 to June 12, 1958 and from then to July 19, 1960....
, who later became Prime Minister, and Yoshisuke Aikawa

Yoshisuke Aikawa

was a Japanese entrepreneur, businessman, and politician, noteworthy as the founder and first president of the Nissan zaibatsu between 1931 and 1945....
, head of the zaibatsu

Zaibatsu

is a Japanese language term referring to industrial and financial business conglomerate in the Empire of Japan, whose influence and size allowed for control over significant parts of the Japanese economy from the Meiji period until the end of the Pacific War....
Nissan, and future leader of the Chuseiren, were charged but released without ever being brought to trial in 1947 and 1948.

Creation of the court

The legal basis for the trial was established by the Charter of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East (CIMTFE) that was proclaimed on 19 January 1946 by General Douglas MacArthur

Douglas MacArthur

General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, Order of the Bath was an United States General officer, United Nations general and Field Marshal of the Philippine Army....
. CIMTFE set down the laws and procedures by which the IMTFE trials were to be conducted, including the types of crimes. On 25 April 1946 in accordance with the provisions of Article 7 of the CIMTFE the original Rules of Procedure of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East with amendments were promulgated.

A panel of eleven judge

Judge

A judge, or arbiter of justice, is a lead official who presides over a court of law,which is operated by the local, state, and/or federal government....
s presided over the IMTFE, one each from victorious Allied powers (United States

United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
, Republic of China

Republic of China

The Republic of China , also known as Nationalist China is a country in East Asia that has evolved from a single-party state with full global recognition into a multi-party democratic state with Political status of Taiwan....
, Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a Constitution of the Soviet Union socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991.The name is a translation of the , romanization of Russian Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated ????, SSSR....
, United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
, the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a country that is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands is located in North-West Europe, and bordered by the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east....
, Provisional Government of the French Republic

Provisional Government of the French Republic

The Provisional Government of the French Republic was an provisional government government which governed France from 1944 to 1946. Following the Battle of France in 1940 the state of Vichy France had been established under the rule of Philippe P?tain....
, Australia

Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
, New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous Islands of New Zealand, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands....
, Canada

Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
, British India, and the Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines, officially known as the Republic of the Philippines, is a country in Southeast Asia with Manila as its capital city. It comprises 7,107 islands in the western Pacific Ocean....
).

Prosecutors

Country	Prosecutor
Chief Prosecutor (USA)	Joseph Keenan - United States Assistant Attorney General United States Assistant Attorney General Many of the divisions and offices of the United States Department of Justice are headed by an Assistant Attorney General.The President of the United States appoints individuals to the position of Assistant Attorney General with the advice and consent of the United States Senate.... and Director of the Criminal Division of the United States Department of Justice United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice is a United States Cabinet department in the United States government of the United States designed to enforce the law and defend the interests of the United States according to the law and to ensure fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans ....
Australia	Mr. Justice Alan Mansfield Alan Mansfield Sir Alan James Mansfield Order of St Michael and St George, Royal Victorian Order was Governor of Queensland, Australia between 1966 and 1972.... - Senior Puisne Judge of the Supreme Court of Queensland Supreme Court of Queensland The Supreme Court of Queensland, which is based at the Law Courts, Brisbane, is the superior court for the Australian States and territories of Australia of Queensland and sits around the middle of the Australian court hierarchy....
Canada	Brigadier Brigadier Brigadier is a military Military rank, the meaning of which has a considerable variation.... Henry Nolan - Vice-Judge Advocate General of the Canadian Army
Republic of China	Xiang Zhejun Xiang Zhejun Xiang Zhejun , native of Ningxiang county in Hunan province. China jurist and prosecutor at International Military Tribunal for the Far East.... (Hsiang Che-chun) - Minister of Justice and Foreign Affairs
Provisional Government of the French Republic	Robert L. Oneto
British India	P. Govinda Menon, who later became a judge of the Madras High Court Madras High Court The Madras High Court, one of the landmarks of the metropolis of Chennai, India, and believed to be the second largest judicial complex in the world, is located near the beach, one of the important central business districts of Chennai.... and later, in the Supreme Court of India Supreme Court of India The Supreme Court of India is the highest court of the land as established by Part V, Chapter IV of the Constitution of India. According to the Constitution of India, the role of the Supreme Court is that of a federal court, guardian of the Constitution and the highest court of appeal.... .
Netherlands	W.G. Frederick Borgerhoff-Mulder
New Zealand	Brigadier Brigadier Brigadier is a military Military rank, the meaning of which has a considerable variation.... Ronald Henry Quilliam - Deputy Adjutant-General of the New Zealand Army New Zealand Army New Zealand Army , is the land armed force of the Military of New Zealand and comprises around 4,500 regular personnel and 2,500 non-regulars and civilians....
Philippines	Pedro Lopez - Associate Prosecutor of the Philippines
UK	Arthur Strettell Comyns Carr Arthur Strettell Comyns Carr Arthur Strettell Comyns Carr was a British Liberal Party politician and lawyer.... - British MP and Barrister
USSR	Minister and Judge Sergei Alexandrovich Golunsky

Judges

Country	Judge	Remarks
Australia	Sir William Webb William Webb Sir William Flood Webb Order of the British Empire was a judge of the Supreme Court of Queensland and the High Court of Australia. He was President of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East after the end of World War II....	Justice of the High Court of Australia High Court of Australia The High Court of Australia is the final court of appeal in Australia, the highest court in the Australian court hierarchy. It has both original and appellate jurisdiction, has the power of judicial review over laws passed by the Parliament of Australia and the parliaments of the States and territories of Australia, and interprets the Const... ; was the President of the Tribunal; delivered a separate opinion
Canada	Edward Stuart McDougall	Former Judge of the High Court of Canada King's Bench Appeal Supreme Court of Canada The Supreme Court of Canada is the supreme court of Canada and is the final court of appeal in the Canadian justice system. The court grants permission to between 40 and 75 litigants each year to appeal decisions rendered by provincial, territorial and federal Appeal, and its decisions are stare decisis, binding upon all lower courts of...
Republic of China	Major-General Mei Ju-ao Mei Ju-ao Mei Ju-ao was a Chinese jurist and author. He was a native of Nanchang, Jiangxi province....	Attorney and Member of the Legislature
Provisional Government of the French Republic	Henri Bernard	Avocat-General (Solicitor-General) at Bangui; Chief Prosecutor, First Military Tribunal in Paris; delivered a dissenting opinion
India	Radhabinod Pal	Lecturer, University of Calcutta University of Calcutta Formally established on the 24 January 1857, the University of Calcutta , located in the city of Kolkata , India, is the first modern university in the Indian subcontinent.... Law College; Judge of the Calcutta High Court Calcutta High Court The Calcutta High Court is the oldest High Courts of India in India. It was established on July 2, 1862 under the High Courts Act, 1861. It has jurisdiction over the Indian state of West Bengal and the Union Territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.... ; delivered a dissenting opinion.
Netherlands	Professor Professor The meaning of the word professor varies. In some English-speaking countries, it refers to a senior academic who holds a departmental chair, especially as head of the Academic department, or a personal chair awarded specifically to that individual.... Bert Röling	Professor of Law, Utrecht University Utrecht University Utrecht University is a university in Utrecht , The Netherlands. It is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands and one of the largest in Europe.... ; delivered a dissenting opinion
New Zealand	Harvey Northcroft	Judge Advocate General Judge Advocate General In the United Kingdom, the Judge Advocate General and Judge Martial of all the Forces is a judge responsible for the court martial process within the British Army and Royal Air Force.... of New Zealand New Zealand New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous Islands of New Zealand, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands....
Philippines	Colonel Colonel Colonel is a military rank of a commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every country in the world. It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures.... Delfin Jaranilla	Attorney General Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general, or attorney-general, is the main legal advisor to the government, and in some jurisdictions he or she may in addition have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions.... , Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines Supreme Court of the Philippines The Supreme Court of the Philippines is the country's highest judicial court, as well as the court of last resort. The court consists of 14 Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines and 1 Chief Justice of the Philippines.... ; delivered a separate opinion
UK	Hon The Honourable The prefix The Honourable or The Honorable is a style used before the names of certain classes of persons.... Lord Patrick	Judge (Scottish), Senator of the College of Justice Senator of the College of Justice The Senators of the College of Justice, also known as the Lords of Council and Session and as the Lords Commissioners of Justiciary, are the judges of the Court of Session and of the High Court of Justiciary in Scotland....
USA	John P. Higgins	Chief Justice, Massachusetts Massachusetts The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a U.S. state located in the New England region of the Northeastern United States United States. It borders Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north.... Superior Court Superior court In common law systems, a superior court is a court of general competence which typically has unlimited jurisdiction with regard to civil and criminal legal cases....
	Major-General Myron C. Cramer	Judge Advocate General Judge Advocate General In the United Kingdom, the Judge Advocate General and Judge Martial of all the Forces is a judge responsible for the court martial process within the British Army and Royal Air Force.... of the United States Army United States Army The United States Army is the branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for Army operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S.... - Replaced Judge Higgins in July 1946
USSR	Major-General I.M. Zarayanov	Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR was created in 1924 to the Supreme Court of the USSR as a court for the Comcor and political commissar of Red Army and Fleet.... member

Charges

Count	Offence
1	As leaders, organisers, instigators, or accomplices in the formulation or execution of a common plan or conspiracy to wage wars of aggression, and war or wars in violation of international law.
27	Waging unprovoked war against China.
29	Waging aggressive war against the United States.
31	Waging aggressive war against the British Commonwealth.
32	Waging aggressive war against the Netherlands.
33	Waging aggressive war against France (Indochina).
35,36	Waging aggressive war against the USSR.
54	Ordered, authorised, and permitted inhumane treatment of Prisoners of War (POWs) and others.
55	Deliberately and recklessly disregarded their duty to take adequate steps to prevent atrocities.

Specific documents of evidence

In April 2007, historian Yoshiaki Yoshimi

Yoshiaki Yoshimi

is a professor of modern Japanese history at Chuo University in Tokyo. Yoshimi is a founder member of the Center for Research and Documentation on Japan's war responsibility....
and the Center for Research and Documentation on Japan's War Responsibility supplied specific documents about war crimes committed by the Japanese during the war. These exposed documents were used in 1948 sentences during the tribunal. The documents concern the issue of "Comfort Women

Comfort women

Comfort women is a euphemism for women working in military brothels, especially those women who were forced into prostitution as a form of sexual slavery by the Empire of Japan military during World War II....
" who were women forced to work in the brothels that serviced soldiers and other men during the years of World War II. Document No. 5330 precisely mentioned the forced use of women for sexual use during the war. Quotes from this document include: "The Tokeitai

Tokeitai

The was the Imperial Japanese Navy's military police, they were equivalent to the Imperial Japanese Army's Kempeitai. They were also the smallest military police service....
(Special Naval Police) had ordered to keep the brothels supplied with women; to this end they arrested women on the streets and after enforced medical examination placed them in the brothels." Other text in the document includes: "Women who had had relations with Japanese were forced into the brothels, which were surrounded by barbed wire. They were only allowed on the streets with special permission."

Sentences

There were 28 defendants tried, mostly military and political leaders. Two defendants (Matsuoka Yosuke and Nagano Osami) died of natural causes during the trial. Seven others were sentenced to death by hanging

Hanging

Hanging is the lethal suspension of a person by a ligature. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", although it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would remain "hanging"....
for crimes against peace

Crime against peace

A crime against peace, in international law, refers to "planning, preparation, initiation, or waging of War of aggression, or a war in violation of international treaties, agreements or assurances, or participation in a common plan or conspiracy for the accomplishment of any of the foregoing" ....
, war crime

War crime

War crimes are "violations of the laws or customs of war"; including but not limited to "murder, the ill-treatment or deportation of civilian residents of an occupied territory to slave labor camps", "the murder or ill-treatment of prisoner of war", the killing of hostages, "the wanton destruction of cities, towns and villages, and any devast...
s and crimes against humanity. They were executed at Sugamo Prison

Sugamo Prison

Sugamo Prison was located in the district of Ikebukuro, which is now part of the Toshima, Tokyo 23 special wards of Tokyo, Japan...
in Ikebukuro

Ikebukuro

, a part of Toshima, Tokyo ward, is a large commercial and entertainment district of Tokyo, Japan. It is the location of the Toshima ward offices, Ikebukuro station and several extremely large department stores....
on December 23, 1948:

General Kenji Doihara
Kenji Doihara

was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army in World War II, and was instrumental in the planning of the Japanese invasion of Manchuria. Doihara was nicknamed 'Lawrence of Manchuria', a reference to Western countries's Lawrence of Arabia....
, spy (later Air Force commander)
Baron Koki Hirota
Koki Hirota

was a Japanese diplomat, politician and the 32nd Prime Minister of Japan from March 9, 1936 to February 2, 1937....
, foreign minister
General Seishiro Itagaki, war minister
General Heitaro Kimura, commander, Burma Expeditionary Force
General Iwane Matsui
Iwane Matsui

was a general in the Japanese Imperial Army and the commander of the expeditionary forces sent to China in World War II. He was sentenced to death by hanging by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East for being responsible for the Nanking Massacre....
, commander, Shanghai Expeditionary Force and Central China Area Army
General Akira Muto
Akira Muto

was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II....
, commander, Philippines Expeditionary Force
General Hideki Tojo
Hideki Tojo

Hideki Tojo was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army and the 40th Prime Minister of Japan during much of World War II, from 18 October 1941 to 22 July 1944....
, commander, Kwantung Army (later prime minister)

Sixteen more were sentenced to life imprisonment. Three (Koiso, Shiratori, and Umezu) died in prison, while the other thirteen were parole

Parole

Parole may have different meanings depending on the field and judiciary system. All of the meanings originated from the French language parole, meaning " word." Following its use in late-medieval Anglo-French chivalric practice, the term became associated with the release of prisoners based on prisoners giving their word of honor to abide...
d in 1955:

General Sadao Araki
Sadao Araki

Baron was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army before World War II. A charismatic leader and one of the principal nationalist right-wing political theorists in the late Japanese Empire, he was regarded as the leader of the Kodoha within the politicized Japanese Army....
, war minister
Colonel Kingoro Hashimoto
Kingoro Hashimoto

Kingoro Hashimoto was a Japanese soldier and politician. He was born in Okayama City....
, major instigator of the second Sino-Japanese War
Second Sino-Japanese War

The Second Sino-Japanese War was the largest Asian war in the twentieth century. From 1937 to 1941, it was fought between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan....
Field Marshal Shunroku Hata
Shunroku Hata

Field Marshal , was a Field Marshal in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. He was the last surviving Japanese military officer with a marshal's rank....
, war minister
Baron Kiichiro Hiranuma
Kiichiro Hiranuma

Baron was a prominent pre-World War II right-wing Japanese politician and the 35th Prime Minister of Japan from 5 January 1939 to 30 August 1939....
, prime minister
Naoki Hoshino
Naoki Hoshino

was a bureaucrat and politician who served in the Taisho period and early Showa period Japanese government, and as an official in the Empire of Manchukou....
, Chief Cabinet Secretary
Okinori Kaya
Okinori Kaya

Okinori Kaya was the Japanese finance minister between 1941-1944. In 1945, he was captured by the Western Allies, tried by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East and sentenced to 20 years imprisonment....
, opium dealer to the Chinese
Marquis Koichi Kido
Koichi Kido

Marquis served as Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal of Japan from 1940 to 1945, and was the closest advisor to Hirohito throughout World War II....
, Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal
Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal of Japan

The was an administrative post not of cabinet rank in the government of the Empire of Japan. The Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal was responsible for keeping the Privy Seal of Japan and State Seal of Japan....
General Kuniaki Koiso
Kuniaki Koiso

was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army, Governor-General of Korea and 41st Prime Minister of Japan from 22 July 1944 to 7 April 1945.Koiso was born in Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture as the son of an ex-samurai family....
, governor of Korea, later prime minister
General Jiro Minami
Jiro Minami

was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army and Governor-General of Korea between 1936 and 1942....
, commander, Kwantung Army
Admiral Takasumi Oka, naval minister
General Hiroshi Oshima
Hiroshi Oshima

Baron was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army, Japanese ambassador to Nazi Germany during World War II ? and unknowingly a major source of SIGINT for the Allies of World War II....
, ambassador to Germany
General Kenryo Sato, chief of the Military Affairs Bureau
Admiral Shigetaro Shimada
Shigetaro Shimada

was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. He also served as Navy Minister...
, naval minister
Toshio Shiratori
Toshio Shiratori

Toshio Shiratori was the Japanese ambassador to Italy from 1938 to 1940, advisor to the Japanese foreign minister in 1940, and one of the 14 Class-A war criminals enshrined at Yasukuni....
, ambassador to Italy
General Teiichi Suzuki, president of the Cabinet Planning Board
General Yoshijiro Umezu
Yoshijiro Umezu

was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army in World War II....
, war minister

Two defendants received finite sentences. Foreign minister Shigenori Togo

Shigenori Togo

was Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan for Japan at both the start and the end of the Japanese-American conflict during World War II. He also served as Ministry of Greater East Asia in 1941, and assumed the same position, renamed the Ministry of Greater East Asia , in 1945....
was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment and died in prison in 1949. Foreign minister Mamoru Shigemitsu

Mamoru Shigemitsu

was the Japan Minister for Foreign Affairs at the end of World War II.Shigemitsu was born in Oita Prefecture, Japan. He studied Law at University of Tokyo, graduating in 1907....
was sentenced to 7 years but was paroled in 1950 and went on to serve as foreign minister again in Prime Minister Ichiro Hatoyama

Ichiro Hatoyama

Ichiro Hatoyama was a Japanese politician and the 52nd, 53rd and 54th Prime Minister of Japan, serving terms from December 10 1954 to March 19, 1955, from then to November 22 1955, and from then to December 23 1956....
's cabinet.

Subsidiary and related trials

According to Japanese tabulation, 5,700 Japanese individuals were indicted for Class B and Class C war crimes. Of this number, 984 were initially condemned to death; 475 received life sentences; 2,944 were given more limited prison terms; 1,018 were acquitted and 279 were never brought to trial or not sentenced. The number of death sentences by country is the following : Holland 236, Great Britain 223, Australia 153, China 149, USA 140, France 26 and Philippines 17. Additionally, the Soviet Union and Chinese Communist forces held trials for Japanese war criminals.

The Khabarovsk War Crime Trials

Khabarovsk War Crime Trials

Khabarovsk War Crime Trials were a series of hearings held between December 25 - 31st, 1949 in the Russian industrial city of Khabarovsk, situated on the Russian Far East ....
held by the Soviets tried and found guilty some members of Japan's bacteriological and chemical warfare unit (Unit 731

Unit 731

was a covert biological warfare and chemical warfare research and development unit of the Imperial Japanese Army that undertook lethal Japanese human experimentation on the Chinese during the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II....
). However those who surrendered to the Americans were never brought to trial as General Douglas MacArthur

Douglas MacArthur

General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, Order of the Bath was an United States General officer, United Nations general and Field Marshal of the Philippine Army....
, Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers

Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers

Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers was the title held by General Douglas MacArthur during the Occupation of Japan following World War II. Although subsequently there were, and continue to exist, other Supreme Allied Commanders, the SCAP title per se has only ever been given to MacArthur....
, secretly granted immunity to the physicians of Unit 731 in exchange for providing America with their research on biological weapons. On 6 May 1947, MacArthur wrote to Washington that "additional data, possibly some statements from Ishii probably can be obtained by informing Japanese involved that information will be retained in intelligence channels and will not be employed as 'War Crimes' evidence." The deal was concluded in 1948.

In 1981, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists is a nontechnical magazine that covers global security and public policy issues, especially related to the dangers posed by nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction....
published an article by John W. Powell detailing Unit 731 experiments and germ warfare open-air tests on civilian populations. It was printed with a statement by judge B. V. A. Röling, the last surviving member of the Tokyo Tribunal. Röling wrote that "As one of the judges in the International Military Tribunal, it is a bitter experience for me to be informed now that centrally ordered Japanese war criminality of the most disgusting kind was kept secret from the Court by the U.S. government."

Criticism

The IMTFE shared many of the same criticisms as the Nuremberg Trials

Nuremberg Trials

Ex Post Facto

Ex Post Facto may refer to:* Ex Post Facto , the eighth episode of Star Trek: Voyager* An ex post facto law, a law that retroactively changes the legal consequences of acts committed prior to the enactment of the law...
nature of the IMTFE. The critics are divided between those who argue that the trial was victor's justice

Victor's justice

The label "victor's justice" to a situation in which they believe that a victorious nation is applying different rules to judge what is right or wrong for their own forces and for those of the enemy....
and those for whom the trial was essentially a legal procedure to exonerate the imperial family from criminal responsibility.

It is also argued by some, such as Solis Horowitz, that IMTFE had an American bias, because unlike the Nuremberg Trials

Nuremberg Trials

The Nuremberg Trials were a series of trials, or tribunals, most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of Nazi Germany after its defeat in World War II....
, there was only a single prosecution team, which was led by Joseph B. Keenan, an American, although the members of the tribunal represented eleven different Allied countries.

The IMTFE had less official support than the Nuremberg Trials. For example, Keenan, a former US assistant attorney general, had a much lower position than Nuremberg's Robert H. Jackson

Robert H. Jackson

Robert Houghwout Jackson was United States Attorney General and an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States of the Supreme Court of the United States ....
, a justice of the Supreme Court of the United States

Supreme Court of the United States

The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest judicial body in the United States, and leads the federal United States federal courts. It consists of the Chief Justice of the United States and eight Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, who are nominated by the President of the United States and confirmed with th...
.

Dissenting opinion and victors' justice

Justice Radhabinod Pal, the Indian justice at the IMTFE, argued that the exclusion of Western colonialism and the use of the atom bomb by the United States from the list of crimes, and judges from the vanquished nations on the bench, signified the "failure of the Tribunal to provide anything other than the opportunity for the victors to retaliate." In this he was not alone among Indian jurists of the time, one prominent Calcutta barrister writing that the Tribunal was little more than "a sword in a [judge's] wig".

Pal's objections were also substantive: he found that the entire prosecution case, that there was a conspiracy to commit an act of aggressive war, which would include the brutalization and subjugation of conquered nations, weak. About the Rape of Nanking in particular, he said, after acknowledging the brutality of the incident ( and that the "evidence was overwhelming" that "atrocities were perpetrated by the members of the Japanese armed forces against the civilian population... and prisoners of war"), that there was nothing to show that it was the "product of government policy", and thus that the officials of the Japanese government were directly responsible. Indeed, he said, there is "no evidence, testimonial or circumstantial, concomitant, prospectant, restrospectant, that would in any way lead to the inference that the government in any way permitted the commission of such offenses."

In any case, he added, conspiracy to wage aggressive war was not illegal in 1937, or at any point since.

A procedure to exonerate the imperial family

Many historians criticize the work made by Douglas MacArthur

Douglas MacArthur

General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, Order of the Bath was an United States General officer, United Nations general and Field Marshal of the Philippine Army....
and his staff to exonerate Emperor Showa and all members of the imperial family implicated in the war such as Prince Asaka

Prince Asaka

Prince Fushimi Hiroyasu

was a scion of the Imperial Household of Japan and was a career naval officer who served as Chief of staff of the Imperial Japanese Navy from 1932 to 1941....
, Prince Higashikuni

Prince Higashikuni

was the 43rd Prime Minister of Japan from August 17, 1945 to October 9, 1945 for a period of 54 days. An uncle of Hirohito twice over, Prince Higashikuni was the only member of the Imperial Household of Japan to head a cabinet....
and Prince Takeda.

As early as 26 November 1945, MacArthur confirmed to Admiral Mitsumasa Yonai

Mitsumasa Yonai

was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy, and politician. He was the 37th Prime Minister of Japan from January 16, 1940 to July 22, 1940....
that the emperor's abdication would not be necessary. Before the war crimes trials actually convened, SCAP, the IPS and court officials worked behind the scenes not only to prevent the imperial family from being indicted, but also to slant the testimony of the defendants to ensure that no one implicated the emperor. High officials in court circles and the Japanese government collaborated with Allied GHQ in compiling lists of prospective war criminals, while the individuals arrested as Class A suspects and incarcerated in the Sugamo

Sugamo

is a neighborhood in Toshima, Tokyo , Tokyo, Japan. It is well known for Jizo-dori , a popular shopping street for the older generation . It lies at the crossing point of the JR Yamanote railway line, and national road route Route 17 ....
prison solemnly vowed to protect their sovereign against any possible taint of war responsibility.

According to Herbert Bix, Brigadier General Bonner Fellers

Bonner Fellers

Bonner Frank Fellers , was a United States Army officer who served during World War II as military attach? and psychological warfare director. He was a considered a proteg? of General Douglas MacArthur....
"immediately on landing in Japan went to work to protect Hirohito from the role he had played during and at the end of the war" and "allowed the major criminal suspects to coordinate their stories so that the emperor would be spared from indictment."

Bix also argues that "MacArthur's truly extraordinary measures to save Hirohito

Hirohito

, also known as , was the 124th Emperor of Japan of Japan according to the traditional order, reigning from 25 December 1926 until his death in 1989....
from trial as a war criminal had a lasting and profoundly distorting impact on Japanese understanding of the lost war" and "months before the Tokyo tribunal commenced, MacArthur's highest subordinates were working to attribute ultimate responsibility for Pearl Harbor to Hideki Tojo

Hideki Tojo

Hideki Tojo was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army and the 40th Prime Minister of Japan during much of World War II, from 18 October 1941 to 22 July 1944....
." According to the written report of Shuichi Mizota, the interpreter of admiral Mitsumasa Yonai

Mitsumasa Yonai

was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy, and politician. He was the 37th Prime Minister of Japan from January 16, 1940 to July 22, 1940....
, Fellers met the two men at his office on March 6 1946 and told Yonai, "it would be most convenient if the Japanese side could prove to us that the emperor is completely blameless. I think the forthcoming trials offer the best opportunity to do that. Tojo, in particular, should be made to bear all responsibility at this trial".

For John W. Dower

John W. Dower

John W . Dower is an United States author, professor, and historian; his primary focus is modern Japan and U.S.-Japan relations. He is perhaps best known for his book, Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II, which won the Pulitzer Prize in Letters for General Nonfiction, the National Book Award in Nonfiction, the Bancroft Pr...
, "This successful campaign to absolve the emperor of war responsibility knew no bounds. Hirohito was not merely presented as being innocent of any formal acts that might make him culpable to indictment as a war criminal. He was turned into an almost saintly figure who did not even bear moral responsibility for the war", "With the full support of MacArthur's headquarters, the prosecution functioned, in effect, as a defense team for the emperor" and "Even Japanese activists who endorse the ideals of the Nuremberg and Tokyo charters, and who have labored to document and publicize the atrocities of the Showa regime, cannot defend the American decision to exonerate the emperor of war responsibility and then, in the chill of the Cold war, release and soon afterwards openly embrace accused right-winged war criminals like the later prime minister Nobusuke Kishi

Nobusuke Kishi

Nobusuke Kishi was a Japanese politician and the 56th and 57th Prime Minister of Japan from February 25, 1957 to June 12, 1958 and from then to July 19, 1960....
".

Three judges wrote an obiter dictum

Obiter dictum

An obiter dictum , Latin for a statement "said by the way", is a remark or observation made by a judge that, although included in the body of the court's opinion, does not form a necessary part of the court's decision....
about the criminal responsibility of Hirohito. Judge-in-Chief Webb declared, "no ruler can commit the crime of launching aggressive war and then validly claim to be excused for doing so because his life would otherwise have been in danger … It will remain that the men who advised the commission of a crime, if it be one, are in no worse position than the man who directs the crime be committed".

Judge Henri Bernard of France concluded that Japan's declaration of war "had a principal author who escaped all prosecution and of whom in any case the present Defendants could only be considered as accomplices".

For judge B. V. A. Röling however, nothing objectable could be found in the Emperor's immunity and five defendants (Kido, Hata, Hirota, Shigemitsu and Togo) should have been acquitted.

60th anniversary

In a survey of 3,000 Japanese conducted in 2006 by Asahi News as the 60th anniversary approached, 70% of those questioned were unaware of the details of the trials, a figure that rose to 90% for those in the 20-29 age group. Some 76% of the people polled, however, recognized a certain degree of aggression on Japan's part during the war, while only 7% believed it was a war strictly for self-defense.

International Military Tribunal for the Far East

Creation of the court

Prosecutors

Judges

Charges

Specific documents of evidence

Sentences

Subsidiary and related trials

Criticism

Dissenting opinion and victors' justice

A procedure to exonerate the imperial family

60th anniversary

See also

Movies

Books

Web