Questions about International Military Tribunal for the Far East
Short answers, pulled from the story.
What was the International Military Tribunal for the Far East?
The International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE), also called the Tokyo Trial, was a military tribunal convened on the 29th of April 1946, to try 28 high-ranking Japanese military and political leaders for crimes against peace, conventional war crimes, and crimes against humanity committed leading up to and during World War II. It was modeled on the Nuremberg tribunal and was established by a proclamation from U.S. General Douglas MacArthur.
Who was found guilty at the Tokyo War Crimes Trial and what were the sentences?
All remaining defendants were found guilty of at least one count. Seven were sentenced to death by hanging: Kenji Doihara, Koki Hirota, Seishiro Itagaki, Heitaro Kimura, Akira Muto, Hideki Tojo, and Iwane Matsui, all executed at Sugamo Prison on the 23rd of December 1948. Sixteen others received life sentences, and Foreign Minister Shigenori Togo received 20 years.
Why was Emperor Hirohito not prosecuted at the Tokyo Trials?
The U.S. occupation decided Emperor Hirohito would not be prosecuted, called to testify, or incriminated by other evidence. Historian Herbert P. Bix documented that Brigadier General Bonner Fellers allowed criminal suspects to coordinate their testimony to shield the Emperor, and that MacArthur's subordinates worked to attribute responsibility for Pearl Harbor to General Hideki Tojo. The Truman administration and MacArthur believed Hirohito was necessary to legitimize occupation reforms and maintain order in Japan.
What was Justice Radhabinod Pal's dissenting opinion at the Tokyo Trials?
Justice Radhabinod Pal of India was the only judge to argue for the acquittal of all defendants on all charges. He found the conspiracy case weak, argued that waging aggressive war was not established as illegal in international law at the time of the offenses, and contended the tribunal represented victor's justice by excluding Allied crimes such as the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki from prosecution.
Why did Unit 731 commander Shiro Ishii escape prosecution at the Tokyo Trials?
MacArthur granted immunity to Shiro Ishii and all members of Unit 731, Japan's biological warfare program, in exchange for germ warfare data gathered through human experimentation. The deal was finalized in 1948. Soviet forces did prosecute some Unit 731 members at the Khabarovsk War Crime Trials in 1949, but those who surrendered to the Americans were never charged.
How did the Tokyo Trials influence the development of international law?
The IMTFE was similarly influential to the Nuremberg trials in shaping international law, but international war crimes tribunals would not be established again until the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in 1993 and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in 1994. The Tokyo Trial also established that domestic tribunals across Asia and the Pacific could indict and sentence lower-ranking personnel for conventional war crimes.