In the National Museum of China, a black robe lies silently, neatly stacked in display cases, sacred and solemn, as if to show that the authority of the law cannot be transgressed.
Its owner is the famous Chinese jurist Mei Ruzhang
At that time, he wore this robe and participated in the Tokyo Trial, nailing the Japanese fascists to the column of historical shame forever with such iron evidence, and today I will tell you the story of this iron-boned justice.
Mei Ruxuan
In November 1904, born in a farming family in Nanchang, Jiangxi, since childhood, intelligent and studious, easy to read poetry, because his father was extremely strict tutoring, Mei Ruxuan when he was in elementary school, he had to get up early every day during the winter and summer vacations, and go outside to collect pig manure and cow manure as fertilizer for the farm.
Every time he went out to collect feces, he always had to bring an English book, and read hard while collecting dung, often reaching the realm of self-forgetfulness.
After graduating from primary school, Mei Ruxuan was admitted to the Preparatory Class for Studying Abroad in Tsinghua with excellent results, during which Mei Ruxuan's feelings of worrying about the country and the people gradually appeared, and he published many articles in Tsinghua Weekly to publicize his patriotic ideas of jingbang and the people.
After graduating from Tsinghua University in 1924, Mei Ruxuan crossed the ocean to study in the United States, first attending Stanford University, receiving a bachelor's degree in liberal arts, and then entering the University of Chicago Law School to study law, and obtained a doctorate in law. In response to the fierce Northern Expedition war in China, Mei Ruzhang also single-handedly organized the Zhongshan Doctrine Research Association, which had a great impact among international students.
In the spring of 1929, after traveling to Britain, France, Germany, the Soviet Union and other countries, Mei Ruzhang returned to China, considering that Shanxi University has a long history and also has the origin of "Gengzi Indemnity" with Tsinghua University, Mei Ruzhang accepted the invitation of Ji Gongquan, a famous jurist of the Republic of China period who was then the director of the Department of Education of Shanxi Province, and the founder of Shanxi University, to serve as a professor at the Law School of Shanxi University.
While stressing the importance of the "rule of law," Mei Ruzhang, who has a strong Tsinghua complex, often encouraged students with the spirit of Tsinghua's "shame is not as good as others", and he earnestly warned the students, "The establishment of Tsinghua University and Shanxi University is related to the use of China's Gengzi indemnity by foreigners, and its intention is to cultivate people who are revered."
Therefore, we must be ashamed that China's scientific and technological culture is inferior to that of Western countries, and that our current universities are not as good as Western universities.
Since then, Mei Ruzhang has successively taught at Nankai University, Southwest United University, Central Institute of Political Science and other well-known universities, and after the end of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Mei Ruzhang also ushered in the highlight moments of her life.
On February 15, 1946, the allied commander-in-chief MacArthur was nominated by the allied governments and officially appointed, and the names of the 11 justices of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East were prominently listed.
For Mei Ruzhang, it was a great honor to be able to represent China in the Tokyo Trial, but he did not have much confidence in his heart, although his academic qualifications met the requirements of the international community and the Headquarters of the Allied Forces, he had not really gone to court, let alone such an important court.
In order to make herself look more majestic, Mei Ruzhang also deliberately grew a beard, added a bit of old age, and faced the scorching eyes of the outside world Before leaving, Mei Ruzhang generously expressed her heart to the reporters who came to interview him, "The trial of Japanese war criminals is a victory of humanity and justice, and I have the privilege of being entrusted by the people of my country to act in accordance with the law and never let those responsible for the war that disturbed the world and brutalized China escape justice."
With a sense of righteousness, Mei Ruxuan boarded a plane to Japan, and the most authoritative media in China, such as the JoongAng Daily, published the headline on a prominent page, "Liquidating Blood Debts, International Military Tribunal for the Far East, Judge Mei Ruxuan Flying to Tokyo Today."
Inside the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, the Allied Supreme Commander, the Chinese Liaison Officer, personally hosted a reception banquet for Mei Ruxuan, at which Gu Yuxuan, then vice minister of civil affairs education and president of the National Central University, presented Mei Ruxuan with a richly decorated sword.
Mei Ruxuan bowed deeply, took the sword with both hands over the top, and said: "Red pink is given to the beautiful person, the sword is given to the strong man, but unfortunately I am not a strong man, and I am ashamed of it", Gu Yuxuan replied to him, "On behalf of forty-five million Chinese people and millions of compatriots who died, you came to the capital of this invading country to punish the culprit and the hero of the world, so that the most important thing is not a strong man, who is a strong man!" ”
After listening, Mei Ruxuan drew his sword out of its sheath and said emotionally: "There are often Shang Fang swords in the drama texts, which are cut first and played later, and now that it is the era of the rule of law, it is necessary to try him first and then behead him, otherwise, I really have to behead him first, Fang Xue, the hatred in my heart, these war criminals must be severely punished, otherwise, we cannot comfort millions of compatriots who have been wrongfully killed."
Despite the hatred in his heart, Mei Ruxuan was not blinded by hatred, and justice prevailed over selfish desires, which he said and did.
Although China is one of the most deeply invaded victorious countries among the Allies, the presiding judge is Australian judge Weber, and as the trial date approaches, the issue of the seat of judges has also received great attention.
Since the Charter of the Military Tribunal for the Far East did not explicitly stipulate the order of seats of judges, the issue was also controversial at the pre-trial meeting of the judges.
In accordance with international practice, if the judges of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East are dispatched by the surrendered signatory States, the seats of judges should be arranged in the order of the surrendered signatories.
That is to say, seats should be arranged in the order of the United States, China, the Soviet Union, Australia, etc., and the president of the court is a Judge of the United States on the right and a Judge of China on the left, and judges from many countries, including China and the United States, all agree with this arrangement.
But Weber disagreed, out of selfishness, he wanted to let the British and American judges sit in the center, so he proposed that the number of judges should be arranged according to the number of seats of each country in the United Nations Security Council, according to the top five, that is, in the order of the United States, Britain, the Soviet Union, China, France, and so on.
But judges soon discovered that seats should be arranged in the order of China, France, the Soviet Union, The United Kingdom, and the United States, according to the Charter of the United Nations.
So Weber said, "We are not an organization of the United Nations, and we do not have to follow the principle of the five strong powers, we can adopt the general alphabetical order of country names", but then the chinese and Canadian judges will sit in the center.
After many reversals, Mei Ruxuan suddenly saw Weber's intention not to let Chinese judges sit in the middle, although China at that time was known as the "world's four strongest", but forced by the lack of national strength, it was also treated coldly in the international community.
Just when there were many opinions, Mei Ruxuan expressed her views in humorous terms and a soft and rigid tone, "I think it is most appropriate to arrange the seats according to the order of signatures of the surrendered countries, and if the president and everyone do not approve of this method, we may as well find a weight measuring device and arrange the seats in order of weight size."
As soon as this remark came out, it caused a lot of laughter and eased the atmosphere a lot, but Weber still did not hesitate, avoiding the heavy and light and said to Mei Ruxuan: "Your method is very good, but it only applies to boxing matches, we are an international court of justice and not a boxing match."
Mei Ruxuan immediately replied, "If you don't arrange the seats in the order of the signatures of the surrendered countries, I think this is the only feasible way, even if I am assigned to the marginal seats, I will be careful and at ease, and I can account to my government, they will definitely not be dissatisfied with me, if they want chinese judges to get the middle seat, they must send someone fatter than me to replace me."
Retreating to advance, not humble, Weber is not easy to say, neither make a decision, nor put it to the vote, this matter has been delayed until the day of the trial rehearsal.
Before the trial rehearsal, the judges of various countries dressed in their robes and gathered in the judges' conference room, and Weber announced that the order of seats was the United States, Britain, China, the Soviet Union, France, etc., and claimed that it was arranged with the consent of the Allied forces and the Supreme Commander of the Far East.
In Mei Ruxuan's eyes, this arrangement seems to have a bit of the meaning of the top five in the middle, but the intention of the British and American judges to be in the center is fully revealed, and this matter is related to the status, honor and dignity of the country, and must not be treated as a trivial matter and treated indifferently. So he took off his robe in public, saying that he could not participate in such a trial rehearsal and was ready to go back to his office.
Weber did not expect Mei Ruxuan to react in this way, and he stopped Mei Ruxuan and told him that this was the arrangement of the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces, hoping to make him compromise. Ke Mei Ruxuan retorted in his rhetoric, "I will never accept this arrangement that has no basis in law and is unreasonable; China is the country that has suffered the most fierce aggression from Japan, the longest war of resistance, and the greatest sacrifice.
Back and forth, the trial rehearsal has been postponed for about 20 minutes, Mei Ruxuan stood in a legal and reasonable position and did not give in, under pressure, Weber came to Mei Ruxuan's office again and said to Mei Ruxuan: "Everyone agrees with your opinion, and the number of judges is arranged according to the order of the surrendered signatories."
Hearing this, Mei Ruxuan put on her robe again and participated in the trial rehearsal in the middle position, which was just straight, which was evident. In the formal trial, there were also many discordant voices.
In terms of sentencing war criminals, some judges from countries that had not suffered aggression by the Japanese army did not approve of the death penalty for war criminals, but Mei Ruxuan, who knew very well that China was poisoned by the Japanese army, could not be willing.
In the entire two and a half years of the trial, 818 hearings, more than 1100 witnesses, Mei Ruxuan collected more than 4300 pieces of evidence, which was justified and well-founded, and finally sent seven war criminals led by Hideki Tojo to the gallows by a slight advantage of 6 to 5.
In addition, in the final trial book, Mei Ruzhang left more than 100,000 words on behalf of Chinese min to write down the crimes of the Japanese army invading China, and the words were blood, and each word was an indictment of the crimes of the Japanese army invading China.
"I am not an avaunch, and I have no intention of recording the blood debt owed by Japanese militarism on the japanese people's accounts, but I believe that forgetting the sufferings of the past may lead to future disasters", word for word, with a loud voice, reminding us not to forget the sufferings of the past.
During the Tokyo trial, news of the domestic people's lack of livelihood continued to come, and Mei Ruzhang saw through the reactionary features of Chiang Kai-shek's government and was determined to abandon the dark and turn to the light. After the trial, Mei Ruzhang, who had been appointed by Chiang Kai-shek as a member of the Executive Yuan and ministry of justice, came to Hong Kong and was invited to attend the inaugural meeting of the Chinese-People's Foreign Relations Association three days later, and served as an adviser to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of New China.
Later, the ghost of Japanese militarism was revived, and right-wingers erected a monument in Nagoya for 7 executed war criminals, including Hideki Tojo, and touted them as "martyrs" and "national heroes." The indignant Mei Ruxuan personally wrote an article entitled "About Tani Shoufu, Matsui Ishigen, and the Nanjing Massacre."
While denouncing the atrocities of Japanese militarism, he also called for strengthening the study and sorting out of the Nanjing Massacre.
Since ancient times, most of the heroes have carried a little sadness, and Mei Ruzhang's life in her later years has not been satisfactory. The legal system in the early days of New China was established in full accordance with the Soviet model, and Mei Ruxuan, as a doctor of law in the United States, was somewhat at a loss, and the ideas of separation of powers and judicial independence were all out of date.
In an "examination", he once laughed at himself: "I am actually just a small and tattered dictionary", and Mei Ruxuan, who had "been idle", was preoccupied with the collation of historical materials, and began to write the book "Military Tribunal for the Far East" and summarize the diary during the Tokyo Trial.
Regrettably, however, before the work was completed, Mr. Mei Ruxuan passed away.
The sword blade comes out of the grinding, the plum blossom fragrance comes from the bitter cold, and Mr. Mei Ruxuan is like a frost blade hanging over the head of Japanese militarism, a killing weapon for our victory in the Far East Military Tribunal. At the same time, he is also like the plum blossom that blooms in the cold, proud of the frost and snow, leaving a dark fragrance alone.
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