Hauptinhalt

Australian War Crimes Trials after WWII

Vortrag

Veranstaltungsdaten

ICWC-Monatskolloquium im Mai 2018

Am 22. Mai 2018 referiert Frau Narrelle Morris von der Curtis Law School (Perth, Australien) im Rahmen des ICWC-Monatskolloquiums zum Thema "Australian War Crimes Trials after WWII".

Hier eine kurze Zusammenfassung der Thematik: 

After World War II, Australia joined the Allied nations in responding to the allegations of shocking war crimes having been committed by the Axis Powers. In relation to the Pacific theater of the war, Australia participated in the International Military Tribunal for the Far East held in Tokyo from 1946-48. Australian Military Courts also convened about 300 war crimes trials of accused Japanese in various locations pursuant to the War Crimes Act 1945. This presentation provides a brief overview of the legal framework and context of the Australian military court trials. It then focuses on the uncertainty at the time around the requirements of a 'previous trial' before the punishment in international law. Sir William Flood Webb, then Chief Justice of Queensland and Australia's war crimes commissioner (1943-46), had pointed out to the Australian Army that the procedural requirements of war crimes trials under international law required merely a 'fair trial' and he saw no need for Australia to improve on those requirements for the benefit of accused Japanese war criminals. The presentation then addresses two of the Australian trials held at Singapore in September 1946 and at Rabaul in July 1947, which turned on whether the accused Japanese had allowed prisoners-of-war a 'fair trial' before punishment. The presentation concludes with a brief discussion of the benefits of and problems with the Australian trials.

 

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