740.00116 PW/1–446
The Acting Secretary of State to the Indian Agent General (Bajpai)
The Acting Secretary of State presents his compliments to the Honorable the Agent General for India and refers to his note (F.169/46/C) of January 4, 1946 concerning the desire of the Government of India to urge its claim to nominate an Indian judge to serve on the International Military Tribunal to be appointed for the trial of major Japanese war criminals.
[Page 394]In considering the size of the proposed International Military Tribunal for the trial of major Japanese war criminals, it has been necessary most carefully to weigh the experience of the International Military Tribunal now sitting in Nuremberg, Germany. As a result of this experience it was strongly urged that the Far Eastern Tribunal should be kept as small as possible, and it was even proposed that the court should be limited to judges from the four states accepting the Japanese surrender. Although it may involve a court of as many as nine judges, it was finally determined to limit the court to judges appointed to represent each of the governments signatory to the Japanese surrender instrument, and that not only the nine signatories but also those countries which had suffered war crimes and atrocities at the hands of the Japanese should be invited to designate associate prosecutors who would join in bringing the charges before the tribunal.
Accordingly, it is hoped that the Governments of India and the Philippines will nominate associate prosecutors for appointment by the Supreme Commander to the Prosecution Agency in Tokyo. The nomination of associate prosecutors by Australia, Canada, China, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand have been received and communicated to the Supreme Commander. The Department has been informed that France, the Netherlands, and the Soviet Union expect to make their nominations in the near future.