In 1946, the International Military Tribunal for the Far East was formally established, and the judges were jointly elected and appointed by China, the Soviet Union, the United States, the United Kingdom and other allied countries. In the two years between the establishment of the Tribunal and 1948, a total of 28 Japanese war criminals who committed the most heinous crimes were tried. However, this review did not include Okamura Ninji, who implemented the "Three Lights Policy" in China.
Moreover, in the International Military Tribunal for the Far East in 1948, there was also a lawyer in Shanghai, China, who defended himself without guilt, and publicly declared Okamura Ningji innocent in court, many people were very curious, what was the origin of this Chinese lawyer who defended Okamura Ningji's innocence, and what was the final outcome of his life?
Patriotic young people
At that time, Okamura Ningji, who was in the courtroom, did a not-guilty defense, and said that his meritorious lawyer was Jiang Yiping, a lawyer who was very famous and loved by the locals in Shanghai at that time. In the hearts of many Shanghainese people, they are fair and just representatives, and after defending Okamura Ningji's innocence, he has completely become the most hated person for the Shanghai people.
This has to start from Jiang Yiping's youth. When Jiang Yiping was young, he was also a young man with strong patriotic feelings. Jiang Yiping was born in 1898 and is a native of Yuhang Town, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. The family environment is better, it belongs to the food and clothing, and there is still spare money for him to study abroad.
Although Jiang Yiping's living conditions will not be very high, it will not be very bad. After all, there were not many families who could go to college at that time, and they were definitely not ordinary. Jiang Yiping studied lawyers at St. John's University in Shanghai, Fudan University, and Soochow University in Taiwan, and graduated from these two schools in 1922 and 1923, and received a bachelor's degree in law from Fudan University and Soochow University.
Jiang Yiping, a recent graduate, is still a bodhisattva heart, and will help the workers who have no money to defend themselves for free and defend their legal rights from infringement. In 1925, the May Thirtieth Movement broke out in Shanghai. Many workers and students took to the streets to protest the suppression of the workers by the Japanese mill capitalists, solidarity with the workers, and call on the government at the time to reclaim the concessions.
Tens of thousands of people gathered on Nanjing Road in the British Concession of Shanghai to demand the release of the arrested students, and the British patrol opened fire on the crowd that was marching, killing 13 people, seriously injuring more than 10 people, and arresting more than 150 people. Jiang Yiping, who is working as a lawyer in the concession, also protested against the concession and defended the students and workers in order to rescue the arrested students and defend the legal rights of the workers.
Jiang Yiping actively collected relevant evidence, defended the rights of workers and students in court, and made great contributions to the acquittal of arrested students. Relying on this lawsuit, Jiang Yiping, who is righteous and righteous, has a very proven image in the hearts of the people.
After this, many ordinary people and students will often ask Jiang Yiping to help deal with some trivial lawsuits, and Jiang Yiping also has a group of suitors because of his youth and integrity. But Mr. Jiang's heated arguments in court have caused a great obstacle to his career. But it was at this time that Jiang Yiping ushered in a major turning point in his life.
With his back to his father-in-law, he walked in peace
When Jiang Yiping was depressed, he was noticed by a businessman named Yu Qiaqing. Yu Qiaqing is a businessman who has struggled from the bottom to the top, and his reputation in Shanghai is not very good. It was at this time that Yu Qiaqing set his sights on Jiang Yiping, who was ostracized by the concession because he spoke up for the people and students.
And Yu Qiaqing just needs such a person with a reputation in the people's group to improve his reputation, and although Jiang Yiping's family is small and rich, it is much worse than Yu Qiaqing, so Jiang Yiping is easier to grasp, an obedient and famous chess piece, for Yu Qiaqing, it is simply encounterable and unattainable.
Under Yu Qiaqing's multi-faceted investigation, he decided to marry his daughter to Jiang Yiping, and after Jiang Yiping seriously considered the impact of this marriage on himself, he decided to marry Yu Qiaqing's daughter. On the one hand, it can help you get out of the current predicament, on the other hand, you don't want to struggle, you want to take shortcuts.
Facts have proved that Yu Qiaqing's shortcut is correct, just marry a wife who is 10 years older than himself, you can become a celebrity in Shanghai, and your life has changed dramatically. He first received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Fudan University, and also became a parliamentary professor at soochow University School of Law and a trustee of Fudan University.
In addition to these, he also served as a trustee of Shanghai Hosei University, a member of the Standing Committee of the Shanghai Bar Association, and a member and director of the Chinese Taxation Association of the Shanghai Public Concession Bureau. After this, Jiang Yiping embarked on a kangzhuang road and began the most beautiful period of his life, during which time, although he had become a so-called superior person, he had not yet given up his dream.
In 1936, he was elected by the legal profession as a delegate to the Constituent National Convention. After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan, he also organized the Shanghai Refugee Association with people from all walks of life in Shanghai to collect donations and relief for refugees. After the fall of Shanghai, as the director of the Public Concession Bureau, he protected the government's rights and interests in the concession. However, sometimes, once some things are abandoned, they can only be completed.
In the summer of 1940, for some reason, he did not want to accept the appointment from Shanghai through Hong Kong to Chongqing, and in the same year he became the second suffragan of the National Suffrage Association, and soon after he was elected as a resident suffragette and served as the president of Fudan University. After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan, he returned to Shanghai and continued to practice as a lawyer.
After Jiang Yiping got married, he was cared for by many of his father-in-law, Yu Qiaqing, and Jiang Yiping was able to mix well in the Kuomintang, and everything was inseparable from his father-in-law. His father-in-law, Yu Qiaqing, gave Chiang Kai-shek a lot of financial support during his lifetime. Until his father-in-law died in Chongqing in 1945.
This is also the reason why he left Chongqing and returned to Shanghai after the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan. In 1946, Jiang Yiping became the "NUS representative" and set up a law firm in Nanjing. In 1948 he was elected to the Legislative Council of the Bar Professional Group. As of 1948, Jiang Yiping's resume did not have any stains.
It is only because it is relatively close to the Kuomintang, it is easier to fall on the tongue, but in addition to these, there is no other scope of stains. However, in early 1949, after disobeying his father's persuasion and giving Okamura Ningji an innocent defense, Jiang Yiping's life entered a dark period because of this defense.
Japanese criminals, acquittal defense
Okamura Ningji was the earliest Japanese war criminal who invaded China, the supreme commander of the North China side transferred to the North China after the Hundred Regiments War, the implementer who commanded Japan to carry out a brutal sweep of the Eighth Route Army and various anti-Japanese base areas, the proposer of the Three Lights Policy in North China, the current commander-in-chief of the Japanese Chinese Dispatch Army in the War of Resistance Against Japan, and the third of the Japanese Showa warlords Miyu Wu.
He worked as a spy in China from 1913 until the end of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, where he carried out 32 years of sabotage, and many of the bad deeds of the war are even more difficult to describe. Just after the end of the War of Resistance Against Japan, when the Japanese war criminals were being punished, the Okamura Ningji was sheltered by Chiang Kai-shek.
In order not to let the Communist Party benefit, Chiang Kai-shek joined hands with Okamura Ningji to exert pressure on the Communist Party and maintain his existing superiority, and Okamura Ningji seized the opportunity to immediately say that he would "closely integrate with the Nationalist Government and deal with the Chinese Communists resolutely", "completely deliver weapons, ammunition, and military supplies to the Chinese government army", and so on.
He also gave Chiang Kai-shek a pledge that "if there is any anti-Japanese or insulting behavior in Yan'an, he will be resolutely punished." In 1945, when Okamura was preparing for the surrender, he also made it clear that if the Kuomintang needed it, he could let 1.28 million Japanese combat troops in China help Chiang Kai-shek. However, due to the consideration of the United States and many other countries, Chiang Kai-shek did not immediately agree to it although he was moved.
On August 31, 1945, Chiang Kai-shek promised Okamura Ninji that "he would be allowed to atone for his sins and be spared punishment as war criminals." "The occupied territory, weapons and ammunition, military supplies, and all kinds of facilities must be handed over to the National Government intact, and all units that illegally disturb public order and are not regarded as Commissar Chiang Kai-shek should resolutely adopt physical self-defense without hesitation."
After Japan announced its surrender, the CCP provided a list of war criminals, of which Okamura Ninji was the number one war criminal on the list. On this point, all walks of life throughout the country have been in agreement, calling for the Kuomintang to arrest it and hand it over to the court for a public trial, but Chiang Kai-shek did not deal with the matter.
After many Japanese war criminals were arrested, Chiang Kai-shek did not seize the command of Okamura Ninji, but changed the original "Commander of The Chinese Dispatch" to "The General Liaison Officer of Japan in the Chinese Theater of Operations" and all the rights remained unchanged. In his memoirs written by Okamura Ningji himself, it is mentioned how Chiang Kai-shek politely treated him as a guest of honor.
In 1946, the Allied forces stationed in Japan repeatedly demanded that Okamura Ninji be sent to Japan for trial, and Okamura Ningji also knew that his sins were so serious that he would not be able to escape death, fearing that Chiang Kai-shek would not be able to protect him. After Chiang Kai-shek learned of this incident, he provided him with shelter for the first time on the grounds that there were still many things that had not been completed in the repatriation work and needed to be handled by Okamura Ningji.
On December 29, 1946, Chiang Kai-shek, under pressure from public opinion, had to hand over Okamura Ningji to the Military Tribunal for the trial of War Criminals in China to try Okamura Ningji, but before this time, he had revealed to Okamura Ningji that this trial was just a formality. Among them, the International Military Tribunal for the Far East has repeatedly requested that Okamura Ninji be extradited to Japan to testify on behalf of the Class A war criminals on trial.
Chiang Kai-shek blamed Okamura Ningji for illness, and in 1948 transferred Okamura Ningji to Shanghai for recuperation, and also sent plainclothes military police to protect him. On July 7, 1948, Okamura ningji was escorted to the Gaojingmiao War Criminals Prison for pre-trial, and on August 23, 1948, Chiang Kai-shek specially selected Jiang Yiping to defend Okamura Ningji.
In January 1949 Chiang Kai-shek set the details for the court to be tried, and the only requirement would be that Okamura Ninji must be acquitted. Before the public trial began, Hideki Tojo and seven other leading Japanese war criminals were taken to the 13th death ladder and hanged. Okamura, who knew the news, was even more frightened.
On January 21, 1949, Shanghai tried the number one Japanese war criminal, defended Jiang Yiping's acquittal as a lawyer appointed by Chiang Kai-shek and was blocked by the elders in the family, and made up many things that had never happened in this defense, distorted the facts, and defended Okamura Ningji.
In his defense, he described During his tenure as commander of the North China Front, Okamura ningji adopted policies of supplying cotton cloth and cracking down on profiteers and other "loving the people" and "benefiting the people", etc. These so-called debates caused constant sighs and laughter in the audience. Against this background, Jiang Yiping insisted on completing the defense work.
As we all know, Okamura was acquitted. It is said that when the verdict was announced, there was an angry protest in the audience, where many people questioned the unfairness of the verdict. Everyone originally did not think that Jiang Yiping's falsely compiled defense could be successful, but after the real verdict was made, Jiang Yiping, the person who defended Okamura Ningji, became the target of everyone.
Most shamelessly, another judge took advantage of the chaos to take Okamura out of the courtroom. Such an absurd scene appeared in China's modern history. The experience is also highlighted in Okamura's memoirs, and it is also deliberately highlighted that Tang Enbo and Chiang Kai-shek helped him in this public trial.
Abandoned and become a street rat
After this public trial, Chiang Kai-shek did not protect Jiang Yiping, but simply used it and threw it away. Jiang Yiping abandoned his father, abandoned his conscience, and finally became the one who was abandoned. On the way back to Japan, Okamura Ninji also said with great emotion, "I have been spared again, more than once, which is a blessing!" ”
But Jiang Yiping was not so lucky, originally thought that it was just a simple process, but what he did not expect was that the result would cause public indignation. The young man who was once loved by the people of Shanghai has now become the existence of everyone in Shanghai shouting and beating. He himself became a street rat, and could only sneak around in the dark corners of Shanghai.
In the face of fierce opposition from the people, Chiang Kai-shek lightly dismissed Jiang Yiping from all his posts, but in order to show his generosity, he also specially arranged an idle for Jiang Yiping. Jiang Yiping's original friends have gradually become estranged, and this person who eats inside and outside in their eyes has completely become a lonely person in China.
On the eve of the liberation of Nanjing, Jiang Yiping left Shanghai, where he had lived for a long time, and went to Taiwan alone, while Okamura Ningji was also excluded from Japan and could not live, far away from Japan and came to Taiwan, and the two became friends. Nothing was left in Okamura's life, except for a memoir of Okamura Ninji.
During Okamura's espionage work, his wife died of illness in Tokyo, his younger son fell ill and died while following Okamura Ninji in espionage work, the eldest son died violently in Okamura's later years, and Okamura died in Japan shortly after the death of his eldest son. Jiang Yiping's fate was not much better.
In Taiwan alone, there is no friend, no one can communicate, only one Okamura Ningji regarded it as a friend, after the death of Okamura Ningji, Jiang Yiping also died of illness in Taiwan, after his death, no one mourned for him. Jiang Yiping experienced glory in his life, experienced loneliness, and finally became a bunch of yellow earth, and was also hated by posterity.
The most important thing for lawyers is fairness and justice, don't distort the facts and smear justice because of money, the law is never a tool for personal gain. I don't know what everyone thinks of Jiang Yiping? Everyone is welcome to leave a message in the comment area below to discuss and express your opinion.