1, the Italian enlightenment thinker Beccaria first put forward the idea of presumption of innocence in theory. In his book Crime and Punishment written by 1764, he pointed out: "Before the judge decides, a person cannot be called a criminal. As long as it can't be concluded that he has violated the contract that gives him public protection, society can't cancel his public protection ":"If the crime is uncertain, an innocent person should not be tortured, because in the eyes of the law, his crime has not been proved ".
2. The French Declaration of Human Rights1789 formally fixed this principle in the form of a code for the first time. Article 9 stipulates that "anyone shall be presumed innocent until he is declared guilty".
3. 1948 10 The Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in February also confirmed the principle of presumption of innocence, thus providing a legal basis for implementing this principle on a global scale. Article 1 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights clearly stipulates that "anyone charged with a criminal offence shall be regarded as innocent until he is proved guilty in a public trial according to law, and must be given all necessary guarantees for his defense at the trial." Paragraph 2 of Article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights stipulates that "a person charged with a criminal offence shall be presumed innocent until proven guilty according to law".
As for the Tokyo trial, the principle of presumption of innocence is introduced into the criminal trial field of public international law (which can be understood as international crimes, such as crimes against humanity, war crimes, genocide, etc. ), specifically:
The Treaty of Versailles (1, 19 19) clearly defined the crime of waging war.
2. 1943, Britain, the United States and the Soviet Union issued the Moscow Declaration, and formally decided to prosecute the Axis war criminals.
3, 1946,65438+10,19, the declaration of the European International Criminal Court and the Charter of the Far East International Military Tribunal were published by the Allies.
The trial in Tokyo was based on Chapter III of the Charter of the Far East International Military Tribunal (Article 9- 10), which stipulated the procedures that must be followed to ensure a "fair trial for the accused". In fact, it is an expression of the principle of presumption of innocence and establishes the principle that people accused of "international crimes" have the right to a fair trial.
7.1July 998 17 At the Rome Diplomatic Conference, Article 66 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court clearly stipulated the article "Presumption of innocence": "(1) Everyone shall be presumed innocent until proven guilty in accordance with the applicable laws of the Court. (2) It is the prosecutor's responsibility to prove the defendant guilty. (3) In order to convict the defendant, the court must be satisfied that there is no reasonable doubt about the defendant's crime. " The establishment of this principle undoubtedly marks the maturity of international criminal trials.