Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal

The International Military Tribunal for the Far East was established in Tokyo on January 19, 1946, pursuant to the Instrument of Surrender. The surrender document stipulated that Japan “accept[s] the provisions set forth in the declaration issued …on 26 July 1945, at Potsdam.” The relevant provision in the said declaration read as follows: “We do not intend that the Japanese shall be enslaved as a race or destroyed as a nation, but stern justice shall be meted out to all war criminals, including those who have visited cruelties upon our [Allied] prisoners” (Proclamation Defining Terms for Japanese Surrender, July 26, 1945, para. 10). Eleven nations that had been at war with Japan took part in the international proceedings: (1) Australia, (2) Great Britain, (3) Canada, ...