War Crimes Trials: Why the ‘Most Politically Independent’ Judge Found the Japanese Not Guilty.
Did Justice Radhabinod Pal condone the atrocities? Was he being soft on Japan? Certainly not. But he maintained that there were no legal grounds for the charge of crimes of aggression against those on trial.
We would like to share the commentary by Dr. Monika Chansoria, a Senior Fellow at The Japan Institute of International Affairs (JIIA) in Tokyo. Previously, she has held appointments at the Sandia National Laboratories (U.S.), Hokkaido University (Sapporo, Japan) and as Associate Director of Studies at the Fondation Maison des Sciences de l’Homme (Paris). She specializes in contemporary Asian security and weapons’ proliferation issues, nuclear strategy, and, Great Power politics and strategy in the Indo-Pacific.
Viewing the case of Justice Radhabinod Pal through the prism of the Third World’s approach to international law provides the best key to explaining his judgment.
