- Khabarovsk War Crime Trials
Khabarovsk War Crime Trials were a series of hearings held between
December 25 - 31st, 1949 in the Russian industrial city ofKhabarovsk , (Хабáровск) situated on theRussian Far East (Дáльний Востóк). Here, twelve members of theJapan eseKwantung Army were tried as war criminals for manufacturing and usingbiological weapons during World War Two.During the trials, the accused, such as Major General Kiyashi Kawashima, testified that, as early as 1941, some 40 members of unit 731 air-dropped plague-contaminated fleas on
Changde . These operations caused epidemic plague outbreaks. (Daniel Barenblatt, "A Plague upon Humanity", HarperCollins, 2004, pp.220-221)All twelve accused war criminals were found guilty, and sentenced to terms ranging between two and twenty-five years in a
labour camp . All wererepatriated to Japan in 1956; it was suggestedfact|date=May 2007 that they were lightly sentenced in aplea bargain that provided theSoviet Union with all of the data and notes to the work ofUnit 731 .Accused and their sentences
*General Yamada Otsuzo, former Commander-in-Chief of the Kwantung Army • 25 years
*Lt-General Kajitsuka Ryuji, former Chief of Medical Administration • 25 years
*Lt-General Takahashi Takaatsu, former Chief of the Veterinary Service • 25 years
*Major General Kawashima Kiyoshi, former Chief ofUnit 731 • 25 years
*Major Karasawa Tomio, former Chief of a section ofUnit 731 • 18 years
*Lt-Colonal Nishi Toshihide, former Chief of a division ofUnit 731 • 20 years
*Major Onoue Masao, former Chief of a branch ofUnit 731 • 12 years
*Major General Sato Shunji, former Chief of Medical Service, 5th Army • 20 years
*Lt. Hirazakura Zensaku, former researcher ofUnit 100 • 10 years
*Senior Sergeant Mitomo Kazuo, former member ofUnit 100 • 15 years
*Corporal Kikuchi Norimitsu, former medical orderly of Branch 643 ofUnit 731 • 2 years
*Kurushima Yuji, former lab orderly of Branch 162 ofUnit 731 • 3 yearsSee also
*
Japanese war crimes
*International Military Tribunal for the Far East
*Military history of the Soviet Union
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