The Tokyo Trial

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24904, 18 June 1946, Page 4

The Tokyo Trial

Six defence counsel at the war crimes trial at Tokyo have resigned. They are not Japanese, but Americans assigned to the task by 'the occupation authorities. They complain that the trial is unfairly conducted. As they were reported yesterday, they say that they have not been given sufficient time to prepare the defence, and that to continue the proceedings in their present form would be a reflection on American justice. They have not made their decision hastily. On May 6, when the tribunal announced that the trial would open on June 3, they protested that the interval was too short. Again, on the day the trial opened, some of them were said to have expressed dissatisfaction with the tribunal’s rulings on procedure. Specifically, they said that the tribunal was admitting evidence loosely, and that another of its rulings hampered them because it did not allow all phases of the proceedings to be immediately ’ translated into Japanese. It is deplorable that the issue between counsel and tribunal has been determined in such a fashion. The Yalta decision to bring war criminals to account by judicial process has never ceased to be controversial; but those among the people of the victorious nations who approved the decision did so believing that the Allied courts would represent impartial justice. Even those who approved will find the episode in Tokyo a disquieting one. Its effect on Japanese opinion may be moye certainly seen. It is reasonable to believe that there were some among the Japanese people who did not regard the war crime trials as “simply one of the “ consequences of defeat ”. Even among the German people there are some who do not question that justice is being done impartially at Nuremberg; and Germany was built of much tougher totalitarian material than Japan. Yet, if Americans engaged in the Tokyo trial can pick wide holes in it, the Japanese cannot be expected to do less; and the fewer there are among the vanquished to approve, the easier it will be for their fellows to exploit the proceedings as-a travesty of dettiocfatic justice. From that an unhealthy growth may easily stem.