MOSCOW, May 4 (Xinhua) -- The Tokyo Trial of Japanese war criminals laid the foundation for modern international criminal law and the post-war world order, Russian experts have said ahead of the 80th anniversary of the tribunal's opening, while denouncing efforts to undermine its significance.
From May 3, 1946, to Nov. 12, 1948, the International Military Tribunal for the Far East tried Class-A Japanese war criminals during World War II in a series of international trials in Tokyo, known as the "Tokyo Trial."
"The Tokyo Trial documented the massive atrocities committed by the Japanese military across Asia, including the Nanjing Massacre, mass executions and other grave crimes," said Anatoly Koshkin, academician of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences and executive council member of the Russian Association of World War II Historians.
"It represents a landmark judicial proceeding against Japanese military and political leaders charged with WWII-era crimes," said Koshkin.
Koshkin also noted that the Tokyo Trial was a tribunal for all peoples. "It was widely believed that verdicts against the instigators of WWII would act as a strong barrier against the future resurgence of fascism, Nazism and militarism," he said.
Dmitry Streltsov, chief researcher at the Center of Japanese Studies of the Institute of China and Contemporary Asia under the Russian Academy of Sciences, shares similar views.
"The Tokyo Trial was an epoch-making event," Streltsov said. "It laid bare the moral degeneration of Japan's leadership and the scale of heinous crimes perpetrated by Japanese militarism against Asian peoples. To a certain degree, it upheld the sense of justice among nations victimized by Japanese aggression."
Streltsov said that the post-war international order was largely built on this sense of historical justice.
"This applies to both Nazi Germany and militarist Japan, and has strengthened the moral and legal underpinnings of the post-war world order," Streltsov said.
The trial's historical significance goes far beyond punishing individual war criminals. Both experts believed that it established vital norms of international law and shared values of human civilization.
However, they also pointed out that the trial was marred by profound regrets.
Not all war criminals were brought to due justice. A large number of Japanese war criminals, including commanders of units behind horrific chemical and biological weapons experiments, evaded punishment and found refuge in the United States.
Today, there is a deliberate reluctance in Japan to confront the wartime atrocities committed by its militarists and ultra-nationalists, Koshkin said.
Koshkin noted that Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi looks up to former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who repeatedly claimed that Japan should stop apologizing for its wartime past and revert to the ideal of a prewar Japan.
Koshkin warned that such dangerous trends are apparently resurging in Japan.
"Japan is once again embarking on the path of militarization. Certain forces in the country are attempting to reverse the outcomes of WWII and question the legitimacy of the Tokyo Trial, dismissing it as 'a tribunal of the victors over the vanquished,'" Koshkin said. "These are highly dangerous trends that demand resolute opposition." Enditem
京公网安备 11010802027341号