Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II

by John W. Dower

the Tokyo charter, the critical definition of the tribunal’s jurisdiction was set forth as follows in Article 5: The following acts, or any of them, are crimes coming within the jurisdiction of the tribunal for which there shall be individual responsibility: a. Crimes against Peace: Namely, the planning, preparation, initiation or waging of a declared or undeclared war of aggression, or a war in violation of international law, treaties, agreements or assurances, or participation in a common plan or conspiracy for the accomplishment of any of the foregoing; b. Conventional War Crimes: Namely, violations of the laws or customs of war; c. Crimes against Humanity: Namely, murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation, and other inhumane acts committed before or during the war, or persecutions on political or racial grounds in execution of or in connection with any crime within the jurisdiction of the Tribunal, whether or not in violation of the domestic law of the country where perpetrated. Leaders, organizers, instigators, and accomplices participating in the formulation or execution of a common plan or conspiracy to commit any of the foregoing crimes are responsible for all acts performed by any person in execution of such a plan.