Tokyo Trial and Other Trials Against Japan Timeline

11 Sep 1945 The Allied occupation administration in Tokyo, Japan announced 39 war criminals and ordered their arrests.

25 Sep 1945 The Philippine People's Court was established by President Sergio Osmeña to try war time collaborators.

3 Oct 1945 The case "People of the Philippines vs. Teofilo Sison" was filed in Manila, Philippines as the first case against war time collaboration leaders.

8 Oct 1945 Japanese General Tomoyuki Yamashita was arraigned in war crimes court in the Philippine Islands.

29 Oct 1945 Trial against Japanese General Tomoyuki Yamashita began in Manila, Philippine Islands.

19 Jan 1946 General Douglas MacArthur established the International Military Tribunal for the Far East in Tokyo, Japan to try Japanese war criminals.

5 Feb 1946 US Army attorney Colonel Harry Clarke wrote to US Secretary of War Robert Patterson in request of clemency for General Tomoyuki Yamashita.

25 Apr 1946 In Hong Kong, a war crimes court presided by Lieutenant-Colonel J. C. Stewart found Lieutenant Yasuo Kishi, Lieutenant Chozaburo Matsumoto, and Sergeant Major Hiroshi Uchida guilty of war crimes committed against civilians at Mui Wo, Lantau Island, Hong Kong between 19 Aug and 27 Aug 1945; they were sentenced to death by hanging. 10 others were also found guilty and given prison terms ranging from 2 years to 10 years. 3 of the defendants were acquitted.

29 Apr 1946 28 former Japanese leaders were indicted as war criminals at Tokyo, Japan.

6 Feb 1947 A court in Najing, China, Lieutenant General Hisao Tani, commanding officer of the Japanese 6th Division in Nanjing from late 1937, was found guilty of encouraging his men to commit crimes such as rape, murder, plunder, and destruction.

10 Mar 1947 Lieutenant General Hisao Tani was sentenced to death by a court in Nanjing, China for encouraging his men to commit crimes such as rape, murder, plunder, and destruction at Nanjing in 1937 and 1938.

17 Jun 1947 War criminals Sergeant Jiro Shimoda and Captain Harochi Yonemura were executed in Shanghai, China. Shimoda had plundered and raped Chinese civilians during the occupation, including several murders committed at Jianying 85 miles northwest of Shanghai on the date of the surrender. Yonemura had ordered enlisted men under his command to bury, while alive, more than 100 Chinese civilians in Changshu near the city of Suzhou.

11 Mar 1948 30 Japanese officers, doctors, and a female nurse were tried by the Allied war crimes tribunal for human experimentation in China. 23 of them would later be found guilty, with 5 sentenced to death.

12 Nov 1948 Tokyo war crimes trials ended with eight war criminals sentenced to death and seventeen others to periods of imprisonment.

23 Dec 1948 Seven Japanese convicted of war crimes by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East were executed at Sugamo Prison in Tokyo, Japan.

25 Dec 1949 Khabarovsk War Crime Trials against 12 members of the Japanese Kwantung Army began.

29 Dec 1949 Khabarovsk War Crime Trials concluded with all 12 accused members of the Japanese Kwantung Army found guilty and given prison sentences.

7 Mar 1950 Douglas MacArthur issued an order that reduced the sentences of convicted Japanese war criminals by a third for good behavior and to allowed the possibility of parole after 15 years for those who received life sentences.

11 May 1950 The final execution of Japanese war criminals condemned by the Saigon Permanent Military Tribunal took place.

4 Sep 1952 US President Harry Truman issued Executive Order 10393 which established the Clemency and Parole Board for War Criminals.

26 May 1953 President Ho Chi Minh of Vietnam pardoned Japanese Class B and Class C criminals who were condemned by the French-run Saigon Permanent Military Tribunal between 1945 and 1950.

26 May 1954 US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles rejected a proposed amnesty for the imprisoned war criminals, but agreed to reduce the eligibility for parole from 15 years imprisonment to 10 years.

7 Apr 1957 The Allied powers and Japan jointly agreed to grant clemency to already-paroled Japanese war criminals.