ALLEGED MURDER OF PRISONERS IN PACIFIC WAR

Greymouth Evening Star, 24 June 1950, Page 6

ALLEGED MURDER OF PRISONERS IN PACIFIC WAR

LOS NEGROS, June 23—Between eight and 10 unidentified Australian prisoners of war were shot in the back when they were executed by . a Japanese firing squad at Gasmata, in New Britain, in March, 1942, according to sworn evidence tendered by the prosecutors at the war crimes i trials today. i In the dock, charged with murder, I was Norio Kondo, a former ensign I attached to the No. 2 Japanese Spei cial Naval Landing Party. I According to the evidence, Kondo sat in a chair on the beach while he gave orders to a firing squad drawn up behind the blindfolded Australian prisoners.. This evidence was contradicted by other Japanese present at the execution, who swore that the prisoners were facing the firing squad. .The evidence was also contradicated in a sworn statement by. Kondo, who said the execution was carried out against his will, on the orders of the officer commanding an air unit then stationed at Gasmata. Kondo claimed that he learned of the execution only after it was reported to him that it had been carried out. According to the prosecution, however, the prisoners were lined up on the beach. Kondo gave the order to fire. Under Kondo’s supervision, the bodies were loaded on a barge and taken to sea for burial, but were later washed ashore and buried on land. " z . Japanese witnesses have suggested in sworn evidence that the prisoners were shot because there was a shortage of food in the area at the time.