Before Nicholas and his party set out, the Japanese government had received a telegram from the consul in China. At that time, Japan was in the Meiji Restoration and its national strength was rising, but it was still difficult to compete with European powers, especially Russia, one of the best military powers in the world at that time. The Japanese government sent more than 20 officials to Nagasaki to meet Nikolai and his party, and ordered all merchant ships in the port not to dock. The rest of the ships flew Russian flags to welcome them. In order to ensure Nikolai's personal safety, Japanese Foreign Minister Akizo Aoki, in addition to strict vigilance, also agreed with his Russian counterpart that in case of injury, he would be punished according to article 1 16 of the Japanese criminal law "Crimes against the Royal Family".
On April 27th, Nicholas and his party arrived in Nagasaki. As soon as he set foot on the land of Japan, this mysterious country aroused his curiosity. These Japanese people dressed in strange clothes and clogs left a lifelong impression on Nicholas.
On May 9, Nicholas and his party arrived in Kyoto. While visiting Kyoto, the romantic Nicholas did not forget to visit exotic and romantic places. There, Japanese geisha left a deep impression on Nicholas. He felt that Japanese women wearing kimonos seemed to be gentler and more elegant than western women, and the Greek prince Georgi danced with him, which made Japanese geisha laugh.
On May 1 1, Nicholas arrived in Otsu by rickshaw from Kyoto. Although the city is small, it is the traffic throat leading to Kyoto, and merchants gather. After visiting the house of a local official, Nicholas and his party went shopping. Out of curiosity, Prince George of Greece bought a locally made bamboo crutch and later saved Nicholas's life. While Nikolai and Georgi were sightseeing in the narrow street by rickshaw, Nikolai suddenly felt that he had been hit twice in a row above his right ear, and suddenly he was bleeding profusely. He turned away in horror and saw a Japanese policeman waving a saber at him with both hands. When his entourage was dumbfounded, Nicholas reacted quite quickly. He shouted, "What are you doing?" He jumped out of the car and covered his bleeding wound with his hand, trying to hide in the crowd and escape. Seeing this bloody scene, the Japanese civilians present were in chaos and fled in all directions. In desperation, Nicholas did not consider the direction, but ran desperately to the front. After about dozens of steps, at the corner of an alley, the assassin gradually caught up with Nicholas. Just as he brandished the knife again, the Greek prince Georgi arrived in time. He knocked the assassin to the ground with the bamboo pole he just bought. The Japanese police who arrived later hurriedly pressed the assassin's neck with a knife and subdued him. Nicholas finally escaped. Lambach, an accompanying doctor, hurriedly bandaged Nicholas to stop bleeding. At this time, Nicholas was still in shock and kept saying "Thank God". Fortunately, Nicholas was stabbed twice, but his life was not in danger.
After the incident, the Japanese government immediately began an investigation. Ironically, the murderer turned out to be Sanzang Tsuda, a policeman in charge of guarding Nicholas's safety. Sanzang Tsuda is an extreme Russian hater. He believes that Nicholas's trip is actually to find out the truth about Japan and prepare for the attack on Japan. Japan should not be so polite to Nicholas. In order to show his loyalty to the Japanese royal family and out of anger at the weakness of the royal family, Sanzang Tsuda carried out a crazy action to assassinate the Russian Crown Prince. This is the famous "Dajin Incident" in history. Because the accident happened in the south of Pipa, it is also called "Hunan Incident".
The sensational "Otsu assassination" broke out and the news came, which shocked the whole world. Accompanied by Prince Akihito of Sakagawa Palace, Japan sent an urgent telegram to the Emperor. Emperor Meiji was shocked when he heard the news. The next day, he sent a physician to recuperate, and later went to the Russian warship moored in Kobe Port to mourn Crown Prince Nicholas, expressing deep regret. The Japanese government also apologized to the Russian government through diplomatic channels and promised to severely punish the murderer in accordance with the agreement between the two countries and vent their anger on the Russian Crown Prince.
All over Japan, the same feeling is shocking and the people are extremely ashamed. From parliament building to states, counties, cities, towns and villages, more than10,000 telegrams of condolence and apology were sent to Crown Prince Nicholas and Tsar in St. Petersburg. The Japanese are deeply afraid of Russian retaliation and launch a war against Japan. All schools are closed, and in shrines and temples, we pray for the recovery of Crown Prince Nicholas. Jinshan Village in Yamagata Prefecture is forbidden to be named after the murderer. On May 20th, in order to calm the anger of Russians, a Japanese woman, Yukio Hatoyama, left an apology note in front of Kyoto Prefecture Hall and stabbed herself with a razor, which was praised as a "martyr" by China people.
After the assassination, Japan-Russia relations fell to freezing point, and war seemed imminent. The tsar threatened that if Japan could not give a satisfactory answer, it would not hesitate to meet face to face. For a time, the Japanese Strait was covered with clouds. How to properly handle this case, so that the disgraced Japanese official, while comforting with a diplomatic apology, fell into a long exam. In order to maintain Japan's diplomatic prestige and Japan-Russia relations, Japanese Prime Minister Seiji Matsuzawa convened an emergency cabinet meeting, at which an agreement was reached to execute Sanzang Tsuda on the charge of "heinous crimes" and assume the government responsibility in international law. In diplomacy, there is no time to delay. What's the pity of killing a wave of people? And the cabinet decided to deal with the aftermath, and informed the former prime minister and current Senate Speaker Ito Bowen.
The Supreme Court, Japan's highest judicial organ, quickly set up a special court. That night, an examining magistrate and two prosecutors heard the Otsu case. However, the judicial organs and administrative organs, which advocate strictness, quickness and emphasis, soon have serious differences on how to apply the criminal law and are deadlocked. The Japanese cabinet argued that the case involved Japan-Russia diplomatic relations, Russia was ready to wage war, and the two countries had a secret agreement long ago, so it was necessary to make a heavy sentence. The newly appointed chairman of the grand jury, Yasushima Kojima, was modest and angry. As far as the law is concerned, Article 1 16 of Japan's Criminal Law stipulates that anyone who injures members of the Japanese royal family, such as the emperor, empress, crown prince, etc., will be sentenced to death regardless of whether they attempt or not. This crime of endangering the royal family, also known as treason, only applies to protecting the personal safety of Japanese royal family members, but not to foreign royal family members visiting Japan. Their status is no different from that of ordinary Japanese nationals, and the reason is very clear.
According to the principle of legality in modern criminal law, there is no explicit stipulation that it is not a crime, and there is no explicit stipulation that it will not be punished. Analogy is the most taboo in criminal law, and rashly expanding the interpretation will shake the foundation of criminal law. In this case, the defendant can only be sentenced to life imprisonment for ordinary attempted murder. In addition, the Meiji Constitution stipulates that in a country ruled by law, the government must completely abide by the law and must not play with the law.
Japanese administrative departments don't think so, because it is related to the diplomatic relations between the two countries and the vital interests of the country. In addition, the two governments reached an agreement in advance, and afterwards the Cabinet decided to apply Article 1 16 of the Criminal Law, and informed Russia and other reasons. Prime Minister Masayoshi Matsuzawa personally went to see Dean Kojima and expressed his views. At the same time, through close contact, arrange relatives, friends and seniors to put pressure on the seven presiding judges to accept each other as the country. Avoid Japanese diplomacy and prevent Russia from taking the opportunity to provoke. Under strong pressure, most judges wavered and agreed to respect the heavy sentence of the Japanese cabinet.
The chairman of the grand jury, Yasushima Kojima, has more than 20 years of judicial experience. He knew that although the Meiji Constitution promulgated two years ago stipulated the principle of judicial independence, Japan's executive power was dominant, and its judicial power was not deep, and it could be stillborn at any time. This case is very interesting. Once the judiciary succumbs to the weakness of the executive branch, it will be difficult to get ahead in the future. He came to Otsu non-stop and complained to seven judges. Move with emotion, understand with reason, turn the tide, and successfully convince subordinates to help each other.
The judge's duty is to try according to law, and whether the Japanese judiciary can be independent is in jeopardy. He encouraged the judge: "Because there is no explicit provision in the law, the death penalty cannot be summarily imposed. Stick to principles and refuse to yield to political pressure. Gentlemen, who is defending judicial independence? "
Upon learning this news, the Japanese government immediately sent Saigou Jyuudou, Minister of Interior, and Kenichi Yamada, Minister of Justice, to lobby the judge. Unexpectedly, seven judges refused to meet with administrative officials before the trial on the grounds of judicial independence. The Minister of Justice, Akiji Yamada, was very angry when he heard the news. I didn't expect a gentle judge to dare to be so "presumptuous" and swear: "What a good judge, how dare you be so rude?"
On the eve of the public trial, on May 25th, Miho, the Japanese Attorney General stationed in Tibet, and Xian Yi Yamada, the Minister of Justice, offered a "trump card" and jointly issued an imperial edict, stipulating that Article 1 16 of the Criminal Law could be interpreted in an expanded way. The knife cuts bread and fingers. Erdaozi, who has a profound legal background, is modest and stands up to deal with a man as he deals with you. He smiled. Article 3 of the General Principles of Criminal Law states in black and white that the principle of retroactivity of laws is prohibited. There is almost no doubt that the new law cannot be applied to the Otsu case. Kojima told the judge that if the judgment misinterpreted the law, the presiding judge in charge of supervision would resign to respond to the Emperor and thank the world. On May 27th, 189 1 formally opened the court, and the evidence investigation ended. Attorney General Sanhao and Prosecutor Kawaki spoke successively, arguing that Article 1 16 of the Criminal Law should be applied, on the grounds that hurting foreign royalty is the same as hurting domestic royalty. Gu Ze, a defense lawyer, and Zhong Shan are tit for tat, stressing that there is no provision for aggravated punishment in the current criminal law.
Under heavy pressure, the Special Court of the Grand Court of Japan sentenced the defendant Sanzang Tsuda to hard labor for life for the crime of attempted murder in Article 292 of the Criminal Law. As soon as the judgment comes out, the judiciary is independent of the executive power. Japan's administrative organs, such as eating a loud slap. Foreign Minister Akizo Aoki, Interior Minister Saigou Jyuudou and Minister of Justice Akiyoshi Yamada were forced to intervene in the judiciary, and it was found that they had resigned one after another to show their responsibilities.
Russia, which has a tough attitude beforehand, suffers from the decline of its national strength and serious lack of combat readiness, and can only swallow the bitter fruit. On the pretext that Crown Prince Nicholas was not seriously injured, the Japanese emperor visited the house in person, and the Japanese government sincerely apologized many times, which actually made a big deal out of it. Crown Prince Nicholas, who left Japan angrily, could only curse privately: "The Japanese are really a group of oriental macaques!"
Later generations praised Erdao as the patron saint of Japanese judicature and laid the foundation of Japanese judicial independence. He told Song Fang, the Prime Minister of the Cabinet, sternly: "This inferior official is not a talented person, and he is honored as the chief judge by the emperor. No matter how the cabinet discusses and decides, he will never accept his explanation if it distorts the spirit of the law. " He also said: "Without misinterpreting the law, there must be other strategies to safeguard national interests. If a constitutional country lacks the majesty and justice of the law, it will inevitably lose its meaning of existence. " Facing many cabinet ministers, it seems like asking Kojima Qian Wei: "What if this leads to the demise of Japan?" Kojima was very angry: "If Japan dies because of this, let it die. At least the world will remember that Japan was once a country with independent judiciary. "
Western countries praise Japan, a rising star, for its ability to achieve judicial independence, which makes people shine at the moment and is commendable. Japan, holding high the banner of judicial independence, took advantage of the situation to amend the unequal treaty with Britain, France and the United States. This case had a far-reaching impact on Japan's judicial power, and finally got rid of the domination and manipulation of the executive power and implemented the separation of powers and checks and balances promoted by the Meiji Constitution.
Amid the praise, some scholars calmly pointed out that according to the Japanese Criminal Procedure Law, this case should be tried by the Otsu District Court where the case occurred, but it is illegal for the Supreme Court to form a special court to hear it. The chairman of the grand jury, Nijima Qian Wei, did not personally participate in the trial, but issued a ruling to the presiding judge, which is far from the essence of judicial independence-judge independence. Most judges in the special court are even more vacillating. As for the assassin Sanzang Tsuda himself, he was sent to Kushiro prison in Hokkaido and died in prison on September 29th of the same year. The cause of death is acute pneumonia, and there are many doubts. There are still people who think it may be a government murder.