A symposium was held Tuesday in Nanjing to mark the 70th anniversary of the Nanjing War Crimes Tribunal which was established in 1946 to judge four Japanese Imperial Army officers accused of crimes committed during the Second Sino-Japanese War.
The symposium was held in Huangpu Hall at the Zhongshan Hotel, the very place for the military tribunal trying Japanese war criminals in February 1946, one year after Japan surrendered.
Historians and legal scholars from across the country gave speeches on the historical and realistic significance of the military tribunal trying the Japanese war criminals and the international criminal law.
The participants agreed that the Nanjing Trial has indisputable justice and authority and played an important role in supplementing the Tokyo Trial to make a serious and rational liquidation of the crimes committed by the Japanese militaristic government in waging the war and making the Nanjing Massacre.
Ye Yukang, son of Ye Zaizeng, attended the symposium to recount his father’s role as one of the judges at the Nanjing Trial.
The Nanjing War Crimes Tribunal was one of thirteen tribunals established by the Nationalist government. The accused were Lieutenant General Hisao Tani, company commander Captain Gunkichi Tanaka and Second Lieutenants Toshiaki Mukai and Tsuyoshi Noda, who were notorious for the contest to kill 100 people using a sword.
Hisao Tani was found guilty on 6 February 1947 and executed by a firing squad on 26 April. All the accused were sentenced to death in 1947.
