Quartermasters can also fight the devils

Because according to the requirements of the Anglo-American legal system, the prosecutors of the Chinese government delegation must find enough witnesses and material evidence to convict the invaders who harmed China. However, the Japanese army was very careful to block information during the war. Especially before and after the Japanese government's failure and surrender, the Japanese military ordered the destruction of a large amount of evidence, which brought considerable difficulties to the work of collecting evidence.

After a detailed internal and external investigation, and with the cooperation of various domestic departments, Chinese embassies and consulates abroad and overseas Chinese, the prosecution team of the Chinese government delegation found a large number of witnesses and material evidence and submitted them to the International Military Tribunal for the Far East.

In the indictment submitted by the prosecution team of the Chinese government delegation to the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, a total of 55 charges were made against the defendants, and all of these charges could be supported by irrefutable documentary evidence.

During the Tokyo Trial of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, the judge team of the Chinese government delegation also made great contributions. Judge Mei Ruoyu of the Chinese government delegation's first contribution was to fight for a seat for the Chinese government delegation at the International Military Tribunal for the Far East.

You know, the eleven judges of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East each represented eleven Allied Powers, so how were the seats arranged? As a judge of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, the president must have sat in the middle. Regardless of the order of signing the Japanese surrender instrument or the sacrifices and contributions to Japan in the war, the judges from the United States and China should be on both sides of the president.

However, President Weber of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East wanted the judges from the United States and England to sit on both sides of him, which was firmly opposed by Mei Ruoyu, a judge from the Chinese government delegation. Mei Ruoyu even took off his robe to express his determination to protest.

Finally, President Weber of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East had to compromise and agreed to the reasonable request of Judge Mei Ruoyu of the Chinese government delegation. Therefore, from the first day of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, Judge Mei Ruoyu of the Chinese government delegation always sat on the left side of President Weber of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East.

Mei Ruoyu, a judge of the Chinese government delegation, sat on the left side of President Weber of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East and played a very important role in the subsequent interrogation. During the trial, President Weber of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East often asked questions to Mei Ruoyu, a judge of the Chinese government delegation, which provided great help for President Weber of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East to solve problems in a timely manner.

The Chinese government delegation also participated in drafting the "Judgment". Chapter 8 of the "Judgment" exposes the Japanese army's "atrocities in violation of the laws of war" and is as long as 171 pages.

Moreover, since Japan's invasion of China lasted the longest, the "Judgment" reveals the most atrocities committed by the Japanese army in China, with an entire section devoted to the "Nanjing Massacre". At the same time, the "Judgment" also lists the atrocities committed by the Japanese army in other parts of Asia and the Pacific.

There was a great disagreement among the judges of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East on whether to sentence the unforgivable Japanese war criminals to death. Some judges advocated that no one should be executed on the grounds that their country had abolished the death penalty. President Weber of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East advocated that the Japanese war criminals should be exiled to a deserted island in the Pacific like Napoleon was done. Indian judge Pal even advocated that all the defendants should be not guilty.

After the efforts of Mei Ruoyu, a judge from the Chinese delegation, and the majority of judges from other countries, and after voting on each accused Japanese war criminal, seven Class A war criminals including Hideki Tojo were finally sentenced to death by hanging by a narrow majority.

Of course, in addition to the trial of Japanese war criminals at the International Military Tribunal for the Far East in Tokyo, from the end of 1945 to the end of 1948, the Chinese government also tried Japanese war criminals and established military tribunals in ten cities in China, including Nanjing, Beijing, Guangzhou, and Shanghai. A total of 2,435 cases of Japanese war criminals were accepted, 318 were sentenced, including 110 cases in which Japanese war criminals were sentenced to death, totaling more than 140 people.

At the end of 1947, except for the military tribunal of the Ministry of National Defense of the Chinese Government that tried Japanese war criminals, which was retained to continue to try a few pending cases, other military tribunals of the Chinese Government were successively abolished. At the end of April 1949, the military tribunal of the Ministry of National Defense of the Chinese Government that tried war criminals was dissolved, ending its historical mission.

The Chinese government's trial of Japanese war criminals after the war was a major event in declaring sovereignty and upholding justice, because it was an independent trial of Japanese war criminals conducted by the Chinese government after the United States, England and other countries gave up their extraterritoriality in China. On the other hand, the Chinese government's trial of Japanese war criminals was also an important coordination with the International Military Tribunal for the Far East's trial in Tokyo. The evidence provided by the Chinese government constituted the main content of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East's trial in Tokyo.

However, the mistakes in the trial cannot be ignored, such as the failure to prosecute Japan's Emperor Hirohito, which was the dominant thinking of the United States.

Because the United States believes that the basic principle of this issue is that for a long time in the past, Japan's Emperor Hirohito obviously had no say in the things happening in Japan. Among the Japanese people and the military, the Japanese emperor is regarded as a god. Any attack on the Japanese emperor is bound to greatly stimulate the feelings of the Japanese people and will not be properly accepted by the Japanese people.

The United States believes that for a long time, the Japanese emperor had nothing to do with Japanese politics, and there is a lot of evidence to prove this. The United States believes that Japan's biggest problem lies in the power of the Japanese military. The United States' consideration is not only to reduce the resistance of the Japanese people, but also that the Japanese emperor is actually powerless.

Moreover, if the Japanese emperor were to be tried, the Allied occupation plan of Japan would have to be greatly changed, because the Japanese emperor was the symbol of the unity of the Japanese people. If the Japanese emperor was excluded, Japan would disintegrate. If the Japanese emperor were to be tried, it would inevitably cause great unrest among the Japanese people, and the impact would be immeasurable.

Therefore, the exemption of the Japanese Emperor from prosecution was an arbitrary decision of the United States, mainly to avoid intensifying Japan's resistance and stabilizing the occupation of the American army in Japan. Otherwise, the International Military Tribunal for the Far East could at least treat the issue of the Japanese Emperor as a "suspect" of war criminals, just like it treated a member of the Japanese royal family, Arimoto no Morimasa.