JAPANESE TREACHERY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26693, 12 February 1948, Page 7

JAPANESE TREACHERY

ADEQUATE PUNISHMENT FOR WAR LEADERS CHIEF PROSECUTOR’S REQUEST Rec. 830 p.m. TOKIO, Feb. 10. Indicating that he will, in effect, ask for the death penalty for General Tojo and 24 other Japanese war leaders, the chief Allied prosecutor, Mr Joseph Keenan, told the War Crimes Tribunal in his final address to-day that if the treachery of the accused went unpunished there would be an implied invitation to world anarchy. The couft had shown great patience in permitting vituperative and insolent comment. Mr Keenan said, but the facts of the case clearly showed the utter futility of attempting to change the militaristic mind of the calm processes of reason. A militaristic mind bent on aggression could best be repressed by the united action of an international community by the imposition of the sternest measures known to law.

The trial was always intended to be t more than a mere trial of individuals'; it was expected to be an exemplary for the entire world. The record clearly proved that Japan had needed to defend itself, not against force from without, but from evil, malignant and ruthless elements in the heart of Tokio.