The story
The International Military Tribunal for the Far East opened in Tokyo on May 3, 1946, and delivered its judgment in November 1948. Eleven judges from Allied countries (including the United States, Britain, China, the Soviet Union, Australia, India and the Philippines) tried 28 Japanese leaders for crimes against peace, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Seven were sentenced to death and hanged on December 23, 1948, including former Prime Minister Hideki Tojo, and 16 received life imprisonment. Two defendants died during the trial and one was ruled unfit.
It was modeled on the Nuremberg trials and set up by General Douglas MacArthur after Japan's surrender. The charges covered aggression from the invasion of Manchuria in 1931 to the Pacific War, including atrocities such as the Nanjing Massacre and the treatment of prisoners. Emperor Hirohito was not prosecuted, a choice made by the United States. Justice Radhabinod Pal of India dissented and would have acquitted all the defendants, and other judges wrote separate opinions. Critics call the trial victors' justice, since Allied acts such as the atomic bombings were not examined, while others point to its record of evidence on crimes in Asia. Thousands of lesser cases were tried separately across Asia.
Why it mattered
- It established individual responsibility of leaders for aggressive war and atrocities in Asia, extending Nuremberg's principles.
- It preserved a large documentary record, especially on events like the Nanjing Massacre.
- It shaped Japanese and Asian memory of the war, and its exclusion of the emperor and of some crimes still prompts debate.
- It fed into later international criminal law, including the statutes of modern tribunals.
Sources
- The Tokyo Trials Facing History & Ourselves
- Japanese war crimes trial begins History.com
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