Military Tribunal Research Articles

The Hypocrisy of Dutch Actions in Indonesia

At the end of World War 2 the Netherlands, through its own military tribunals, tried and convicted several members of the Japanese and German militaries for their participation in the war crime of extra judicial executions in Indonesia and the Netherlands. Several of the convicted men were executed by the Netherlands while others sentenced to lengthy prison terms. From 1946-1949 the Netherlands, primarily through commando Raymond Westerling, engaged in the same actions they accused the Japanese of having committed. While no specific order was ever revealed showing that Westerling’s actions were ordered by the military, the Netherlands tacitly approved his actions by failing to control him and his men and by their unwillingness to take responsibility for his actions before or after the Netherlands withdrew its forces from Indonesia in 1949. This research paper explores the extrajudicial executions conducted by Westerling, his men, other Dutch military and the Dutch government in order to provide a better and more thorough understanding of these events and the lack of national or international action against war crimes committed after World War 2. It concludes that the Netherlands has failed to try or even accuse Westerling and others of war crimes or take actions to discipline them, and in fact has covered up his actions and failed to make public those war crimes. Further that the reason for this continued hypocritical refusal is a concern for the reputation of the Netherlands in the world and a belief that high levels of government would be found complicit.

6. Instruire, juger et négocier le passé de guerre dans la Lituanie soviétique (Pabradė, 1944-1957)

This paper proposes to provide a quantitative and qualitative overview of the judicial cleansing of people accused of participating in Nazi crimes in Lithuania, from the first prosecutions after the arrival of the Red Army in 1944 to the major public trials held in Vilnius and Kaunas in 1962.After evoking the role of the purges in connection with the wartime past in the violent Sovietization of the Baltic republics and tracing their quantitative evolution from their peak in the 1940s until the crisis, and then the reinvention of the Stalinist model in the middle of the following decade, the author examines the procedures and judicial frameworks used to punish these crimes (Special Conference, Military Tribunal, and the Supreme Court). In doing so, this paper seeks to go beyond the “in-camera trial/ media trial” opposition to analyze the various degrees of publicity involved in the use of these judicial tools.

Trajan and the revolt of Antonius Saturninus

The article points out that the starting positions of the young native of the Spanish city of Italica were provided by his father, a prominent follower of the Flavian dynasty, who became a consul, a patrician and, yes, was awarded a rare and prestigious award-the triumphal distinctions for the governorship in Syria. The future emperor himself held the position of military tribune for an unusually long time, which provided him with a career in the professional military ( vir militaris ). However, although Trajan the younger, after the military tribunate, passed all the necessary steps of the civil magistracies, up to and including the praetura, instead of the patrician consulship, he receives the unusual appointment of commander of the legion stationed in the province of Hispania Tarraconensis. From the authors point of view, this designation, despite its external lack of prestige, was a sign of special trust on the part of the bearer of supreme power. When a military revolt broke out on the Rhine in early 89, led by the governor of Upper Germany, Antonius Saturninus, Trajan, on the orders of the Emperor Domitian, immediately moved with his legion to campaign against the rebels. The zealous execution of the order allowed him to become one of the most trusted military leaders of Domitian. Trajan may have confirmed in the eyes of the emperor his reputation as a loyal and energetic supporter of the Flavian dynasty by taking part in punitive measures against the minuscule legions. About Trajans subsequent career in the surviving sources is silent, which makes it suspect that he was carrying out new government assignments of the tyrant. By the time of the dynastic crisis of 96-98. Trajan undoubtedly had a reputation as a recognized vir militaris , a major military and administrator.

ЎЗБЕКИСТОН СУД ТИЗИМИИККИНЧИ ЖАҲОН УРУШИ ЙИЛЛАРИДА

This article describes the history of the judicial system of the Uzbek SSR in 1939-1945 on the basis of a comparative analysis of a large number of historical sources and legal documents. According to the Stalinist Constitution and the law on the judicial system adopted in 1938, changes in the judicial system of the Uzbek SSR, the national composition of judges, staff turnover and the factors that led to this were discussed. The article also describes the mobilization of judges from Uzbekistan to the front after the invasion of the Soviet Union by fascist Germany, increasing the competence of military tribunals, types of criminal and civil cases considered by courts of general jurisdiction, activities carried out in the field of training lawyers

BEYNƏLXАLQ FƏRDİ ÖHDƏLİKLƏR VƏ FƏRDLƏRİN BEYNƏLXАLQ MƏSULİYYƏTİ

Depending on the state, an individual may not have the procedural capacity to appeal to the Court, but as a result of changes in the international community, they have gained the right to sue in international courts. This development is a factor that will be taken into account in all research on the international subjectivity of the individual. Key words: International individual obligations, legal sanctions, UN Charter, legal responsibility, international military tribunal

Organization and holding the trial of Nazi criminals in Kharkiv (December 15-18, 1943)

The issues of preparation and conduct of the Nuremberg Trials (1945-1946) have sufficiently fully and comprehensively covered in domestic and foreign historical, legal, and journalistic literature, while Kharkiv Trial 1943 (December 15-18, 1943) has remained outside the field of vision of scholars. The purpose of the study is to highlight the issue of organizing and conducting the Kharkiv show trial over war criminals—servicemen of the Wehrmacht and the German police, as well as their collaborators. The research methodology is based on the principles of historicism, objectivity, systematic scientific analysis and synthesis. The principle of historicism allows us to consider the issues of organizing and conducting the Kharkiv Trial in chronological sequence as a natural process that developed in accordance with the then sociopolitical situation and the global context. The objectivity of the study lies in the coverage and condemnation of the crimes of Nazism. Analysis and synthesis makes it possible to determine the role of the Kharkiv Tribunal in the process of forming international criminal legislation. Scientific novelty of the research. During 1941-1943, the Soviet justice has formed a legal framework, which made it possible to hold trials of war criminals involved in the massacres of civilians and prisoners of war in the territory of the USSR. The agreements reached between Great Britain, the USA, and the USSR at the Moscow Conference (1943) were used by the Soviet government for the preparation of the show trial over the servicemen of Hitlerite Germany. During the Trial, the facts of the mass destruction of the civilian population and prisoners of war by the Nazis in the territory of Kharkivshchyna were established. The verdict of the Kharkiv Tribunal in practice has implemented the thesis, which became the cornerstone of international criminal law: «A crime committed by order of the high command does not exempt the perpetrator from criminal liability». Conclusions. The Kharkiv Trial has become a legal precedent for the punishment of Nazi war criminals – German citizens, it has laid the foundations of international criminal law and given an acceleration in the decision to hold a trial of the main war criminals of Hitlerite Germany. Keywords: Nazi war crimes, Main Directorate of Counter-Intelligence “SMERSH”, Military Tribunal of the 4th Ukrainian Front, show trial, Kharkiv Trial 1943, World War II.

ИСТОРИЧЕСКОЕ ЗНАЧЕНИЕ НЮРНБЕРГСКОГО И ТОКИЙСКОГО ТРИБУНАЛОВ В РАЗВИТИИ МЕЖДУНАРОДНОГО ПРАВОВОГО СОТРУДНИЧЕСТВА И НОВЫЕ ПОЛИТИЧЕСКИЕ РЕАЛИИ

A description of the history of the organization of the Nuremberg and Tokyo international military tri-bunals over Nazi criminals is given. The article shows their importance in the formulation of the basic principles and norms of international law for the development of cooperation between states in the prevention of military conflicts and the punishment of criminals

Civil Population of Soviet Ukraine in Sight of Military Tribunals: Regulation of Penal Practices (1918-1959)

Civil Population of Soviet Ukraine in Sight of Military Tribunals: Regulation of Penal Practices (1918-1959)

The abduction of General Kreipe in Crete: bloodless or bloody?

This article examines the German reaction to the abduction by the SOE (Special Operations Executive) of General Kreipe in Crete in May 1944 and questions whether the operation should have been launched. Observance of the Laws and Customs of War as defined at the time had been compromised by SOE's charter from the outset, and the reaction of the occupying powers – Germany and Italy – to partisan warfare evolved accordingly. The article concludes by highlighting the legal findings of the American Military Tribunal at the Nuremberg trial of the ‘Balkan Generals’ and contrasts them with the Athens trial of Generals Müller and Bräuer.

Book Review: Soviet Judgment at Nuremberg: A New History of the International Military Tribunal After World War II

Book Review: Soviet Judgment at Nuremberg: A New History of the International Military Tribunal After World War II

ПРАВОВОЕ НАСЛЕДИЕ НЮРНБЕРГСКОГО ТРИБУНАЛА: ИСТОРИЧЕСКИЙ АСПЕКТ

The main principles and norms of the Nuremberg Military Tribunal are described. 
 Their importance for the development of international law and cooperation of states in the prevention 
 of military conflicts is shown.

Kirsten Sellars, Review of Francine Hirsch, Soviet Judgment at Nuremberg: A New History of the International Military Tribunal after World War II

Kirsten Sellars, Review of Francine Hirsch, Soviet Judgment at Nuremberg: A New History of the International Military Tribunal after World War II

Military Systems of Justice

Sociologists have largely ignored the study of military tribunals and justice systems. We offer a descriptive overview of military systems of justice intended for use by political and military sociologists, focusing on the case of the United States armed services. We contextualize the principal military systems of justice and provide extended discussions of how the American case connects through formal and informal channels to international legal structures. American military law and justice link three key legal realms: international law on conflict and security at the global level; the so called National Security Constitution at the national level; and the Uniform Code of Military Justice at the institutional level.

Admissibility of evidence and international criminal justice

International criminal procedure combines elements of accusatorial and inquisitorial legal traditions, thus constituting a unique amalgam. Because of the broader scale and the complexity of international criminality to be addressed by international criminal courts and tribunals, it may seem interesting to look at developments and their hitherto experience through the lens of the admissibility of evidence. The presented paper scrutinizes the respective law and practice of the International Military Tribunals, the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda, and the International Criminal Court, and also makes some general observations on the admissibility of evidence from the perspective of international judiciary as a whole, i.e. not only confined to international judicial bodies of a criminal character.

Le génocide des nazis dans les témoignages des interprètes et traducteurs au procès de Nuremberg

The Nuremberg Trial is of paramount importance, first of all, in historic and legal terms, as it laid the foundations for an international justice system that had no precedent in history, but also in linguistic terms, as it marks the very beginning of simultaneous interpretation and the modern profession of interpreting. By analysing the testimonies of those exceptional interpreters who were ensuring the communication in four languages before the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg, we will highlight the linguistic and technical challenges they were facing as well as the deeply personal struggles they had to overcome, in particular on a psychological and ethical level, while taking part in a worldwide historic event. The aim of this article is to deepen the current state of research on simultaneous interpretation, but above all to pay tribute to these remarkable interpreters and translators who made history with their pioneering work and their legendary accomplishments in Nuremberg.

Prosecutor v. Ayyash et al. (Special Trib. Leb.)

The establishment of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in 1998 constitutes a landmark in the development of International Criminal Law (ICL), which gained its first momentum after World War II through the foundation of International Military Tribunals in Nuremberg and Tokyo. ICL is, however, not confined to these most prominent courts or their statutes providing for definitions of international crimes under their respective jurisdiction; rather, ad hoc international, or internationalized and hybrid special tribunals and criminal chambers also contribute to the development and shape of ICL and reflect its diverse legal and institutional basis. Perceived as another tribunal of “international character,” on August 18, 2020, the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) pronounced its judgment on the merits in the Ayyash case. The long-awaited verdict raises the question of the Tribunal's contribution to the further evolution of ICL.

THE NUREMBERG VERDICT: HISTORY LESSONS FOR THE FUTURE

The article examines the significance of the organization and holding of the Nuremberg International Military Tribunal for the trial of war criminals in 1945-1946 from the point of view of modern international law. (hereinafter — MW) as a unique experience of successful international cooperation, it is highly in demand nowadays; based on the analysis of the Sentence MW formulated a number of lessons for modern national and international justice; made the judgment that the contractual sources (Berlin Declaration, the London Agreement and Charter of the IMT) has had an enormous influence on the subsequent development of international contractual practice; noted that MW took all that was best in socialist (USSR), in fact, continental (France) and the Anglo-Saxon (US and UK) legal systems, have managed to overcome "the system" and national barriers and to find mutually acceptable solutions; it was concluded that since the implementation of international justice aimed at replacing the national justice condition the exercise of international jurisdiction is the loss (In varying degrees) by a state of its sovereignty; the author’s expressed judgment that the effectiveness of national legal and judicial systems based on the Nuremberg jurisprudence, is opposed to international justice, however, the assignment of the functions of international justice in national judicial systems is no less disturbing; In the context of the refusal of the Russian Federation to participate in the ICC, the importance of concluding bilateral agreements with the states parties to the ICC on the exclusion of Russian citizens from the jurisdiction of the ICC in compliance with the principles of the inevitability of punishment, reciprocity and selectivity, as well as the establishment of prohibitions on both cooperation of state authorities with the ICC and the participation of Russian peacekeepers in operations in countries that are under the jurisdiction of this court is emphasized. The MW has set the guidelines that form the fundamental values of modern civilization.

Nuremberg Redux: The Kremlin and the International Military Tribunal, 1945–46

Nuremberg Redux: The Kremlin and the International Military Tribunal, 1945–46

Le Moment Nuremberg: Le procès international, les lawyers et la question raciale, by Guillaume Mouralis

Turning-point or dead end? Success or failure? Interest in the International Military Tribunal (IMT) which tried twenty-two leading Nazis at Nuremberg from October 1945 to October 1946 shows no sign of abating. This is because the IMT’s significance can be read in different contexts—the end of the Second World War, the de-Nazification of Germany, the development of international law, the history of penal proceedings and the stigmatisation of the violence of modern war. That some of these contexts remain live further affects views on this, one of history’s most innovative trials. Innovation is the key. Whatever it did or did not achieve, Nuremberg (along with the parallel Tokyo Tribunal) was unique. It was the product of ‘total victory’ by Allies who would soon confront each other in the Cold War. But rather than use summary judgments followed by execution, the Allies sought to reaffirm the values that their erstwhile enemy...

Mezhdunarodnyj voennyj tribunal v Nyurnberge

The Nuremberg trial of Nazi criminals, which took place from November 20, 1945 to October 1, 1946, became an important milestone in the history of world civilization. The article is devoted to consideration of the process of developing an agreement on the establishment of an International Military Tribunal and its charter, drawing up an indictment, direct preparation of the process and its progress. The main focus of the article is on the role of the USSR in the preparation and conduct of the Nuremberg trials. The work reveals the relations between the prosecutors from the USSR, the USA, Great Britain and France, their mutual assistance, the contradictions, that arose from time to time, and the course of closed sessions is highlighted.