War crimes trials

War crimes trials

War crimes trials are trials of persons charged with criminal violation of the laws and customs of war and related principles of international law. The practice began after World War I, when some German leaders were tried by a German court in Leipzig for crimes commited during that war. After World War II the phrase referred usually to the trials of German and Japanese leaders in courts established by the victorious Allied nations.

History

The most important of these trials were held in Nuremberg, Germany, under the authority of two legal instruments. One, the so-called London Agreement, was signed by representatives of the United States, Great Britain, France, and the USSR in London on August 8, 1945; the other, Law No. 10, was promulgated by the Allied Control Council in Berlin on December 20, 1945.

The London Agreement provided for the establishment of the International Military Tribunal, composed of one judge and one alternate judge from each of the signatory nations, to try war criminals. Under the London Agreement, the crimes charged against defendants fell into three categories: crimes against peace, that is, crimes involving the planning, initiating and waging of aggressive war; war crimes, that is, violations of the laws and customs of war as embodied in the Hague Conventions and generally recognized by the military forces of civilized nations; and crimes against humanity, such as the extermination of racial, ethnic, and religious groups and other such atrocities against civilians.

Nuremberg Trials

occupied by Germany during the war.

Among the accused were the Nationalist Socialist leaders Hermann Göring and Rudolf Hess, the diplomat Joachim von Ribbentrop, the munitions maker Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach, Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, Grand Admiral Erich Raeder and 18 other military leaders and civilian officials. Seven organizations that formed part of the basic structure of the Nazi government were also charged as criminal. These organizations included the SS (Schutzstaffel, "Defense Corps"), the Gestapo (Geheime Staatspolizei, "Secret State Police"), and the SA (Sturmabteilung, "Storm Troops"), as well as the General Staff and High Command of the German armed forces.

The trial began on November 20, 1945. Much of the evidence submitted by the prosecution consisted of original military, diplomatic, and other government documents that fell into the hands of the Allied forces after the collapse of the German government.

The judgment of the International Military Tribunal was handed down on September 30-October 1, 1946. Among notable features of the decision was the conclusion, in accordance with the London Agreement, that to plan or instigate an aggressive war is a crime under the principles of international law. The tribunal rejected the contention of the defense that such acts had not previously been defined as crimes under international law and that therefore the condemnation of the defendants would violate the principle of justice prohibiting ex post facto punishments. It also rejected the contention of a number of the defendants that they were not legally responsible for their acts because they performed the acts under the orders of superior authority, stating that "the true test . . . is not the existence of the order but whether moral choice (in executing it) was in fact possible"."

With respect to war crimes and crimes against humanity, the tribunal found overwhelming evidence of a systematic rule of violence, brutality, and terrorism by the German government in the territories occupied by its forces. Millions of persons were destroyed in concentration camps, many of which were equipped with gas chambers for the extermination of Jews, Gypsies, and members of other ethnic or religious groups. Under the slave-labor policy of the German government, at least 5 million persons had been forcibly deported from their homes to Germany. Many of them died because of inhuman treatment. The tribunal also found that atrocities had been committed on a large scale and as a matter of official policy.

Of the seven indicted organizations, the tribunal declared criminal the Leadership Corps of the National Socialist Party, the SS, the SD (Sicherheitsdienst, "Security Service"), and the Gestapo.

ee also

*Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse
*Harry Breaker Morant and Court martial of Breaker Morant
*My Lai Massacre
*Trial movies


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • WAR CRIMES TRIALS — Crystallization of the Principles of International Criminal Law Immediately after the outbreak of World War II, when the first Nazi violations of the laws and customs of war as defined by the Hague and Geneva Conventions were revealed (and in… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • War crimes in Manchukuo — were committed during the rule of the Empire of Japan in northeast China, either directly, or through its puppet state of Manchukuo, from 1931 to 1945. Various war crimes have been alleged, but have received comparatively little historical… …   Wikipedia

  • War crimes of the Wehrmacht — are those carried out by traditional German armed forces during World War II. While the principal perpetrators of the Holocaust amongst German armed forces were the Nazi German political armies (the SS Totenkopfverbände and particularly the… …   Wikipedia

  • Nuremberg War Crimes Trials —    The trial of Nazi war criminals, as agreed by the Allied powers at the Yalta Conference, was held in Nuremburg, Germany, and lasted from 1945 to 1949. The first and main trial of 21 surviving (Adolf Hitler and several others committed suicide… …   Historical Dictionary of the Roosevelt–Truman Era

  • War-responsibility trials in Finland — The war responsibility trials in Finland ( fi. Sotasyyllisyysoikeudenkäynti) was a trial of the Finnish wartime leaders held responsible for definitely influencing Finland in getting into a war with the Soviet Union and United Kingdom in 1941 or… …   Wikipedia

  • Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act — The Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act (2000, c. 24) (CAHWCA) is a statute of the Parliament of Canada. The Act implements Canada s obligations under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. In passing the Crimes Against… …   Wikipedia

  • War Crimes Act of 1996 — The War Crimes Act of 1996 was passed with overwhelming majorities by the United States Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton.The law defines a war crime to include a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions , specifically noting… …   Wikipedia

  • Japanese war crimes — occurred during the period of Japanese imperialism. Some of the incidents have also been described as an Asian Holocaustcite news| first=Ralph |last=Blumenthal |title=The World: Revisiting World War II Atrocities; Comparing the Unspeakable to the …   Wikipedia

  • German war crimes — The government of Germany ordered, organized and condoned several war crimes in both World War I and World War II. The most notable of these is the Holocaust in which millions of people were murdered or died from abuse and neglect, 60% of them… …   Wikipedia

  • Second Chechen War crimes and terrorism — The article details notable human rights violations committed by the warring sides of the ongoing second war in Chechnya. Russian officials and Chechen rebels have been regularly and repeatedly accused of committing various war crimes including… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”