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The Tokyo Trial began in May 3rd 1946 and ended in November 12th 1948.
The International Military Tribunal for the Far East indicted 28 Japanese
"war leaders", of which 3 were dismissed (2 died and 1 went mad) during
trial. It sentenced 7 to death by hanging, 16 to imprisonment for life, and
2 to shorter terms. The indicted were accused of crime against peace, crime
against humanity and ordinary war crimes.
The so-called crime against peace and humanity came
to be after World War II, and was used to try the accused in the Nuremberg
Trial and the Tokyo Trial.
The Tokyo Trial's legitimacy, significance and objective consisted
in judging what the victorious nations thought was a crime against their
"peace" and their "humanity". Without the two newly introduced crime
concept, the Trial would have lost a great deal of its means to incriminate
the Japanese "war leaders". Without the two legitimizing factors, humanity
and peace, the Trial would be left with just the victors name as their
legitimacy in infringing the domain of sovereignty and in prosecuting the
leaders of it. But were these two factors legitimate? No. They were both ex
post facto laws. Penal codes do not retrospect. Thus they were illegitimate
crime concepts, and the judgements made based upon these were invalid.
The Trial's legitimacy was based upon the concept of a crime against
peace and humanity. But these concepts, and the obligations and
responsibilities that follows it, came after the moment the event under
trial happened, meaning after World War II. Thus they were legally
illegitimate in being applied against the Japanese war leaders. And
therefore, everything else that follows or is based upon them, is
illegitimate, including the Trial. So, the Trial's judgements are invalid.
Of course, even with the two concepts, the reality of an unfair trial and
judgements imposed by the victor, for the victor in the name of world peace
and humanity remains, which is another element against the moral validity
and legitimacy of the Trial.
The Tokyo Trial was morally and legally illegitimate and invalid.
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