Pay attention to "National Memory" and increase knowledge together!
August 15, 1945
Emperor Hirohito of Japan announced his unconditional surrender
In the subsequent Tokyo trial
A judge sent by China was sharp-tongued
In the end, it was decided by one vote
Sent 7 Class A war criminals, including Hideki Tojo, to the gallows
Who is this judge?
In order to bring war criminals to justice,
What hard work did he put in?
7 Class A war criminals who were hanged
What heinous crimes have been committed?
Today
National Memory is with you
Review the history of Mei Ruxuan and the Tokyo Trial
He was admitted to Tsinghua at the age of 12.
Although I went to the United States to study, I am still the heart of China!
Mei Ruxuan was born on November 7, 1904 in Meicun, Zhuguqiao, Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province.
In 1916, at the age of 12, Mei Ruxuan was admitted to the Tsinghua School (the predecessor of Tsinghua University) in Beijing. In 1924, Mei went to the United States to study, and at the end of 1928, she received a doctorate in law from the University of Chicago. During his doctoral studies, he responded to the Northern Expedition revolution with practical actions.
In 1929, Mei Ruxuan returned to the motherland. After returning to China, he taught at Shanxi University, Nankai University, and Wuhan University.
In February 1946, Mei Wasappointed to represent China before the International Military Tribunal for the Far East.
He has been through all along,
Safeguard the authority of the law and the dignity of the motherland!
During the trial, Mei Ruzhang always adhered to the principles of law and the feelings of home and country, and safeguarded the authority of the law and the dignity of the motherland at key moments such as "dispute over judges' seats", "drafting judgments", and "resolute death penalty punishment".
"Controversy over Seats for Judges"
(Photo: Group photo of judges of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East)
When discussing the seats of judges, because there was no explicit stipulation in the charter of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, the president of the tribunal, The Australian judge Sir Weber, wanted the British and American judges to sit on his left and right hands, so he proposed that the number of judges' seats should be in the order of the United States, Britain, the Soviet Union, China, and France.
Mei Ruxuan proposed that the seats of judges should be arranged in the order in which they were signed by the surrendered countries, so that China and the United States would be placed in the first and second places, respectively, on either side of the president.
(Photo: Photograph taken at the courtroom of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, with Mei Ruzhang in the middle)
But until the rehearsal the day before the trial, the president still did not accept Mei Ruxuan's proposal.
(Photo: Photo of Mei Ruxuan wearing a robe)
In response, Mei Ruxuan said angrily in the judge's lounge: "I refuse to accept this unreasonable arrangement. In Japan's war of aggression, China suffered the most from the aggression, resisted the war for the longest time, and sacrificed the most. But Britain only blindly endured and surrendered, and China could not accept being ranked after Britain! He then took off his black silk robe and prepared to leave the lounge in protest by refusing to attend the rehearsal.
(Pictured: The internal structure of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East during the trial of war criminals)
Due to Mei Ruxuan's arguments, the judges had to make a final vote, agreeing to the order of admission and the number of judges to be arranged according to Mei Ruxuan's proposal.
"Drafting the Judgement"
On the issue of the final link of the court, the writing of the judgement, it has been argued that the judgement should be written uniformly. Mei Ruxuan insisted that the part about the crime of Japanese militarism invading China Chinese suffered the most and understood his own suffering the most, so this part should be written by Chinese himself.
With the help of her assistants, Mei Ruxuan devoted a lot of effort to writing the first draft of the judgment of more than 300 pages. He advocated that the verdict should contain a separate chapter explaining the Nanjing Massacre, which was agreed by the court.
The 600,000-word verdict not only lists the crimes and punishments of prisoners, but also leaves many ironclad evidence recording the atrocities of the Japanese invasion of China forever in history.
According to the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, during the six weeks after Nanjing was occupied by the Japanese army, there were about 20,000 rapes in the city of Nanjing. This is strong evidence of the atrocities committed by the Japanese army invading China under the "comfort women" system.
On November 10, 1948, when the court was about to pronounce the verdict, Mei Ruzhang called the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Nanjing to express his pride in upholding justice for his compatriots:
"The atrocities committed by the Japanese army in various places shall be included in a special chapter. Of the four hundred and dozen pages describing the facts of Japan's foreign aggression, the section on "Aggression against China" was written by Huang Himself, and about one hundred and fifty pages were proposed, accounting for more than half of the page. The discussion on the complicated Sino-Japanese relations over the past seventeen years is listed in detail. Where the merits of right and wrong lie, it will be possible to reveal it to the world in the hereafter, and the private heart will be comforted. ”
"Insisting on the death penalty"
During the sentencing phase, judges were widely divided over whether to impose the death penalty on war criminals. President Weber recommended the exile of war criminals to desert islands, while religious Indian judge Barr advocated the acquittal of all war criminals.
(Photo: Scene of Japanese war criminals on trial at the International Military Tribunal for the Far East)
Mei Ruxuan described the difficulty of coordinating the opinions of judges in different countries: "We should pay special attention to what is asked and strive to promote it to the extent possible. However, the work of drafting judgments has been delayed, and the main reason is that the case is huge, the file is huge, and the views of the eleven countries are divergent, often in a stalemate, and the coordination is tortuous, which takes a lot of time. ”
However, Mei Ruzhang and Chinese procurators have said that if we cannot severely punish war criminals, if justice cannot be done, and if we cannot give an account to the hundreds of millions of compatriots who have been bullied and bullied by the Japanese aggressors, we can only die in the sea to thank our countrymen.
In the end, under the constant maneuvering of Mei Ruxuan, 11 judges voted with 6 votes in favor, that is, a slight advantage of one vote, and passed the proposal to send Hideki Tojo and 7 other Class A war criminals to the gallows.
appendix
7 Class A war criminals
What heinous crimes have been committed?
1
Hideki Tojo
Known as the "Razor General" for his fierceness and brutality, he is a representative figure of Japanese militarism. He strongly supported the launching of the 918 Incident. In 1935, he was appointed commander of the gendarmerie of the Kwantung Army to control Puppet Manchuria, in 1938 he was appointed deputy minister of the army to command the Japanese invasion of north China, and in 1941 he became the prime minister of Japan, concocting the Pacific War and launching the invasion of Southeast Asian countries.
2
Kenji Toihara
It is known as "China Pass". In 1931, he served as the head of the Shenyang secret service, participated in the planning of the September 18 Incident together with Itagaki Seishiro and others, commanded the Japanese army to invade Northern China after the July 7 Incident in 1937, and set up a secret service in Shanghai in 1938 and served as the chief.
3
Seishiro Itagaki
He served as the ruling advisor of the puppet state of Manchukuo, the chief of staff of the Kwantung Army, and the chief of staff of the Japanese Invasion of China. The establishment of a puppet regime in the Northeast and the "Autonomy of North China" were planned.
4
Matsui Ishine
He was the commander of the Shanghai Dispatch Army of Japan and the commander of the Central China Front of the Japanese Invasion of China. In 1937, he commanded the Japanese army to capture Nanjing, conniving at the inhumane Nanjing Massacre by his men.
5
Kotaro Kimura
The "artillery expert" of the Japanese Army. He was a deputy officer in the Army and a loyal subordinate of Hideki Tojo. In 1940, he participated in the invasion of The Luxi and Jiluyu Border Areas. In 1944, he became commander of the Burma Front, where he committed the Yangon Massacre.
6
Hirota Hiroshi
In 1932, he became Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan, and in January 1936, he promulgated the "Hirota Three Principles" that attempted to annex and control China. He became Prime Minister in March 1936. He was one of the masterminds who decided to launch an all-out war of aggression against China and was the only civilian official among the 7 Class A war criminals sentenced to death by hanging.
7
Akira Muto
He was the chief of the second section of the Kwantung Army Staff Department and the deputy chief of staff of the Central China Front of the Japanese Army invading China, and was good at collecting intelligence. In 1937, he ordered the Japanese army to camp in Nanjing, leading to the Nanjing Massacre.
Mei Ruzhang wrote in the article "On The Events of Gu Shoufu, Matsui Ishigen and the Nanjing Massacre":
"I'm not an echievous. It is not my intention to write on the japanese people the blood debt owed to us by the Japanese imperialists. However, I believe that forgetting the sufferings of the past may lead to future disasters. ”
December 23, 1948,
Seven Class A war criminals were hanged at Sugamo Prison in Tokyo.
Justice is late!
Editor: Wang Haitao, Zhao Bin
Editor-in-Chief: Chen Xi, Cui Ming
Editor: Wang Zichen Ma Aijie
The comprehensive sources of this article are: People's Daily News Agency, "Tokyo Trial - Diary of Chinese Judge Mei Ruxuan of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East" (by Mei Ruzhang), "Manuscript of Mei Ruzhang's Tokyo Trial" (by Mei Xiaozhang and Mei Xiaokan), Democracy and Legal Weekly, China Court Network, Tsinghua University Law School, NetEase Military, mei Ruzhang's former residence