Allied Note to President of German Delegation Respecting War Criminals

Abstract Timing complicates all dimensions of post conflict redress. Moving too fast suggests prejudice. Going too slow delays accountability and closure. This paper challenges the temporal logic of international justice. The prosecution of aged defendants created aesthetical dilemmas for war crimes operations in post-World War ii Asia. The unsettling optical allusions of frail perpetrators in court — shadows of their former selves — left many observers conflicted: it looked indecent, it felt unjust and underwhelming. The unseemly punishment of weak defendants undercut prosecution attempts to brand perpetrators as monsters. Disappointed reporters and trial authorities fixated on the shabby dress, waning physique, and benign senescence of once-sinister villains. Few questioned the accused’s guilt. Many felt unnerved by the optics. Ultimately, this paper shows how the staging and performance of justice impacts a court’s effectiveness. Unrelenting accountability, bringing all war criminals to justice, feels right. Yet, the aesthetic complications of prosecuting aged accused may not be worth it.

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Chapter 11. Australia’s Prosecution of Japanese War Criminals: Stimuli and Constraints

The Legacy of Nuremberg: Civilising Influence or Institutionalised Vengeance? ◽

10.1163/ej.9789004156913.i-338.51 ◽

2008 ◽

pp. 237-257

Keyword(s):

War Criminals

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The British War Crimes Trials Of Suspected Italian War Criminals, 1945-1947

International Humanitarian Law: Origins ◽

10.1163/ej.9781571052674.i-746.18 ◽

2012 ◽

pp. 89-104

Author(s):

Jane L. Garwood-Cutler

Keyword(s):

War Crimes ◽

War Criminals ◽

War Crimes Trials

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II.E.1 Agreement by the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Government of the United States of America, the Provisional Government of the French Republic, and the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics for the Prosecution and Punishment of the Major War Criminals of the European Axis Powers and Charter of the International Military Tribunal (8 August 1945)

International Law & World Order ◽

10.1163/ilwo-iie1 ◽

2014 ◽

pp. 1-7

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

United Kingdom ◽

Great Britain ◽

Northern Ireland ◽

United States Of America ◽

The United States ◽

The United Kingdom ◽

Military Tribunal ◽

War Criminals ◽

The Government

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Amnesties in the Light of Developments in International Law and the Establishment of the International Criminal Court

International and Comparative Law Quarterly ◽

10.1093/iclq/51.1.91 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 51 (1) ◽

pp. 91-117 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Jessica Gavron

Keyword(s):

International Law ◽

Second World War ◽

Criminal Court ◽

World War ◽

Military Tribunal ◽

War Criminals ◽

The First World War ◽

The Impact ◽

Second World ◽

First World

Amnesties presuppose a breach of law and provide immunity or protection from punishment. Historically amnesties were invoked in relation to breaches of the laws of war and were reciprocally implemented by opposing sides in an international armed conflict. The impact of the two world wars in the first half of the twentieth century, however, had considerable implications not only for the use of amnesties, but also for their legality under international law. The scale of the First World War precipitated a new phase of unilateral amnesty for the victors and prosecutions of war criminals for the defeated aggressor states.1 This precedent was followed after the Second World War,2 with the establishment of the first ‘international’3 criminal court, the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg. However, the horrors perpetrated during the Second World War also prompted the development of a branch of international law aimed at recognising and protecting human rights in an attempt to prevent such atrocities being repeated.

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