(1) from tojo hideki's court confession.
Tojo Tojo: The prosecutor accused him of participating in the September 18th Incident, the July 7th Incident and the Pacific War. This is totally nonsense. Japan's "Greater East Asia Policy" aims at liberating East Asian people, not aggression. The fundamental reason for Japan's war with the United States and Britain lies in their provocation, and Japan's behavior is purely self-defense. ..... Japan, with a long and glorious history, has never invaded China and North Korea, which deserves sympathy. American persecution forced Japan to launch an attack on Pearl Harbor.
Prosecutor Keenan: Defendant Tojo, I won't call you General Tojo now, because you know that there is no imperial army in Japan ... Is your intention to establish a so-called new order in Greater East Asia before and after Japan's War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea?
Tojo: Of course, as a national ideal, I always consider building Greater East Asia. Besides, I insist that we should try our best to achieve this goal by peaceful means.
2. Keenan: Have you ever considered that the result of Japan's invasion of China will arouse China's anti-Japanese sentiment?
Tojo: China's antipathy to Japan has a long history, and Japan has never invaded China. (There is noise in the courtroom)
3.
Presiding Judge: Defendant Tojo, how many China people did you command the Japanese army to kill? To tell the truth (and then repeat) Tojo: I don't know!
Webb: Have you ever considered that the brutal killing of more than 2 million people in China will inevitably arouse resentment and hatred in China?
Tojo: There will definitely be casualties in the war, which I deeply regret.
Weber: Defendant Tojo, you should know that many innocent people were killed by your army. Why treat ordinary people who have nothing to do with the war with such cruel behavior?
Tojo: It is true that the people have nothing to do with the war, but as politicians, it is wrong for China leaders to guide the people of China to exile and humiliate the Japanese and even kill us.
Keenan: Defendant, you started the war as the Prime Minister. What do you think is the legal and moral fault?
Tojo: Nothing wrong at all. This is the right move!
4. When the witness (Tanaka, Tojo's confidant) exposed Tojo's crime of ordering the brutal killing of China people and allied prisoners of war during his tenure as Chief of Staff, Secretary of the Army and Prime Minister of the Kwantung Army. ...
Tojo: These things were done by front-line commanders against my orders. As prime minister, I have ordered many times to be kind to prisoners!
(2) The trial of tojo hideki.
On the afternoon of February 26th, 1947, 1947, Ichiro Kiyoseki, the defender of tojo hideki, still wearing high-waisted military boots, began to make an opening statement for the defendant. He said that the defense does not intend to invite any other witnesses except tojo hideki himself to testify in court, nor does it intend to produce any evidence.
In his opening statement, Ichiro Kiyose summarized the main points of his confession and totally denied the aggressive nature of the Great East Asian War. Naoki Kiyose further stressed that we should not ignore the statement that Japan's policy in World War II was not aggression, but for the independence of all ethnic groups and the liberation of all ethnic groups from colonies.
On the cover of this lengthy confession, Ichiro Kiyose secretly added the words "This is a historical document" without authorization.
The court found kishida fumio Ichiro's hands and feet, and Weibo severely reprimanded him in court, saying:
"Why do you think this is a historical document? Is such a thing worthy of a historical document? ! "
However, despite this, the court did not interfere too much in order to safeguard the principle of fair trial.
Then, the court summoned the defendant tojo hideki.
After the routine oath, tojo hideki began to read his confession. This confession is 220 pages long, easy to draft, and full of "Tojo accent" described by Japanese journalists. The confession was read for three days. Except for the first part, he read it himself, and all others were read by American defense lawyer Bruwitt.
The main content of the confession is that tojo hideki defends himself and Japanese militarism.
Hideki Tojo's confession was immediately criticized and attacked at home and abroad.
The New York Times condemned Tojo's self-defense argument as a robber theory.
From tojo hideki's confession to defend himself, people saw a stubborn image of sticking to the extreme position of militarism.
1947 On the last day, the chief prosecutor of the strike, Ji Nan, began to refute and question.
Ji Nan: Defendant Tojo! I won't call you general, as you know, because Japan has no army.
The aggressive questioning in Jinan shocked the court. Tojo Tojo's defense lawyer immediately protested to the court that Ji Nan's words were inappropriate. The court rejected the defense lawyer's protest.
Jinan exposed the absurd logic of the invaders through cross-examination. Then, Ji Nan began to ask questions at the stage of the Pacific War.
Hideki Tojo tried to shirk his responsibility in the war, but Ji Na just clung to it, and his questions became more and more sharp, finally leading the focus of cross-examination to the pre-war Japan-US negotiations.
In the last two months before the war against the United States, the Japanese frequently held high-level meetings and plotted to launch the Pacific War. In order to deal with the Americans, they made two final negotiation plans: plan A and plan B.
Ji Nan questioned tojo hideki on cases A and B;
Ji Nan: Mr. Tojo, didn't Foreign Minister Dongxiang send the following telegram to Ambassador Nomura the next day (194 1 1.5)? (The cable said) "In the absence of a compromise on the above plan, as the final countermeasure, we are going to propose case B, so we hope to inform the United States of its attitude towards case A as soon as possible. Ask for instructions in advance when proposing case B. Is this telegram sent by Foreign Minister Dongxiang according to your instructions? "
Hideki Tojo: This is not my order, it is the instruction of the government.
In court, tojo hideki tried his best to shirk his responsibility of ordering the Pacific War, so he argued that it was the government's intention. The reason why Ji Nan clung to the telegram 165438+ sent by Dongxiang Maud1October 5 was because on that day, tojo hideki had made clear the major policy of the cabinet: if these last two plans failed, Japan would go to war with the United States.
Ji Nan achieved his goal through cross-examination, that is, the Japanese militaristic government, under the auspices of tojo hideki, was determined to plot to launch the Pacific War, and the negotiations between Case A and Case B were completely a cover. Hideki Tojo was the chief culprit in launching the Pacific War.
In court, the prosecution and the defense had a heated debate around a focus.
Prosecutor Higgins accused Japan of violating international law and carrying out an unannounced attack on the US Navy at Pearl Harbor.
Higgins said bitterly that Japan is very cunning. Negotiate with the United States and prepare for war. It is determined to go to war, but it has to pretend to maintain peace in the Pacific. Higgins also quoted a large number of documents from the Japanese cabinet to prove that Japan deliberately attacked the United States.
At that time, the Japanese defense team suddenly organized a fierce counterattack and used a killer weapon to surprise the prosecutors of the Far East International Military Tribunal:
The witness for the Japanese is Colonel bratton, director of the Far East Division of the Military Intelligence Department of the United States War Department.
194 1 Colonel bratton was in Washington during the Japan-US War. His task is to intercept, translate and decipher Japanese diplomatic cables.
Colonel bratton testified that 194 1, 12 On February 6th, the day before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the Far East Branch of the Military Intelligence Department of the United States War Department monitored it from beginning to end. That telegram is very long, a * * *, with 14 parts, especially the most important part, 14, which is an ultimatum to the US government to terminate the negotiations. The time intercepted by the Far East Branch was much earlier than that submitted by the Japanese ambassador to Secretary of State Hull.
Colonel bratton's testimony silenced the prosecutor at first, and no one refuted it.
But the prosecutors soon found the target of counterattack: in any case, the time for Japan to submit the telegram in the United States was 1 hour 20 minutes after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor.
This is an ironclad fact that no one can deny.
In addition, four hours after the Japanese joint fleet attacked Pearl Harbor, the Japanese base camp announced by radio that "Lu Haijun Empire entered a state of war with British and American troops in the western Pacific early this morning".
At 9: 40 pm Washington time, Japan Radio broadcasted the imperial edict of Japanese Emperor Hirohito.
JiNa continue to cross-examine tojo hideki in court. When the Japanese fleet was preparing to attack Pearl Harbor, he suddenly questioned whether the Emperor knew about tojo hideki.
At this time, the atmosphere of the court suddenly became very tense, and the question of whether the Japanese emperor should bear the responsibility for the war was suddenly made public in court in full view.
The trial of the Far East International Military Tribunal is puzzling. Can a tojo hideki wage a huge war against its allies? Who is the supporter behind him?
1On the morning of October 7th, Weber began to personally interrogate tojo hideki as a witness on behalf of the judge.
Webb suddenly asked, who finally suggested that the emperor go to war? Who but you suggested to the emperor to go to war with Britain and America?
Tojo cocked his head nervously: Japanese Chief of Staff Sugiyama Zhao, military commander Osami Nagano and I finally decided to meet the Emperor. I told the two commanders that in order to ensure the survival of Japan, there was no other way but war. So the emperor accepted this suggestion.
But tojo hideki said Sugiyama Zhao had committed suicide. 1June 947 Osami Nagano died in Chaoya prison, and only tojo hideki knew the truth. But is it true what he said?
After asking this sharp and sensitive question, Webb suddenly terminated the trial.
This has become a very noticeable topic in the trial of the Far East International Military Tribunal, so world public opinion has speculated that there will be major changes in the allied policy and the Japanese emperor may be tried.
During the trial of the Far East International Military Tribunal, Emperor Hirohito of Japan was indeed the unavoidable focus of the Tribunal.
However, the day after Weber directly questioned tojo hideki, Weber officially announced that the International Military Tribunal for the Far East would not prosecute Japanese Emperor Hirohito.
Some scholars who study Japanese history speculate that Ji Nan and Weber deliberately led the contradiction to the Japanese emperor at the most critical moment of the trial, but they also knew that if they continued, they would not get any support from the US government, so they ended in time.
From beginning to end, tojo hideki protected the Emperor at all costs.
This is also the highest defense policy determined by the Japanese government, Japanese war criminals and defense groups of war criminals from the beginning after the war.
1948 65438+ The trial of tojo hideki ended on107.
The International Military Tribunal for the Far East finally concluded that the defendant tojo hideki was one of the masterminds of all the war plots he participated in since he became the chief of staff of the Japanese Kwantung Army in 1937.
The court found him guilty.