CHARTER OF THE
INTERNATIONAL MILITARY TRIBUNAL
In pursuance of the Agreement signed on the 8th day of August 1945 by the Government of the United States of
America, the Provisional Government of the French Republic, the Government of
the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Government of
the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, there shall be established an
International Military Tribunal (hereinafter called "the Tribunal'') for
the just and prompt trial and punishment of the major war criminals of the
European Axis.
The Tribunal shall consist of four
members, each with an alternate. One member and one alternate shall be
appointed by each of the Signatories. The alternates shall, so far as they are
able, be present at all sessions of the Tribunal. In case of illness of any
member of the Tribunal or his incapacity for some other reason to fulfill his
functions, his alternate shall take his place.
Neither the Tribunal, its members nor
their alternates can be challenged by the prosecution, or by the Defendants or
their Counsel. Each Signatory may replace its members of the Tribunal or his
alternate for reasons of health or for other good reasons, except that no
replacement may take place during a Trial, other than by an alternate.
(a) The presence of all four members of the Tribunal or
the alternate for any absent member shall be necessary to constitute the
quorum.
(b) The members of the Tribunal shall, before any trial
begins, agree among themselves upon the selection from their number of a
President, and the President shall hold office during the trial, or as may
otherwise be agreed by a vote of not less than three members. The principle of
rotation of presidency for successive trials is agreed. If, however, a session
of the Tribunal takes place on the territory of one of the four Signatories,
the representative of that Signatory on the Tribunal shall preside.
(c) Save as aforesaid the Tribunal shall take decisions
by a majority vote and in case the votes are evenly divided, the vote of the
President shall be decisive: provided always that convictions and sentences
shall only be imposed by affirmative votes of at least three members of the
Tribunal.
In case of need and depending on the
number of the matters to be tried, other Tribunals may be set up; and the
establishment, functions, and procedure of each Tribunal shall be identical,
and shall be governed by this Charter.
The Tribunal established by the Agreement
referred to m Article 1 hereof for the trial and punishment of the major war
criminals of the European Axis countries shall have the power to try and punish
persons who, acting in the interests of the European Axis countries, whether as
individuals or as members of organizations, committed any of the following
crimes.
The following acts, or any of them, are
crimes coming within the jurisdiction of the Tribunal for which there shall be
individual responsibility:
(a) CRIMES AGAINST PEACE: namely, planning,
preparation, initiation or waging of a war of aggression, or a war in violation
of international treaties, agreements or assurances, or participation in a
common plan or conspiracy for the accomplishment of any of the foregoing;
(b) WAR CRIMES: namely, violations of the laws or
customs of war. Such violations shall include, but not be limited to, murder,
ill-treatment or deportation to slave labor or for any other purpose of
civilian population of or in occupied territory, murder or ill-treatment of
prisoners of war or persons on the seas, killing of hostages, plunder of public
or private property, wanton destruction of cities, towns or villages, or
devastation not justified by military necessity;
(c)CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY: namely, murder, extermination,
enslavement, deportation, and other inhumane acts committed against any
civilian population, before or during the war; or persecutions on political,
racial or religious grounds in execution of or in connection with any crime
within the jurisdiction of the Tribunal, whether or not in violation of the
domestic law of the country where perpetrated.
Leaders, organizers, instigators and
accomplices participating in the formulation or execution of a common plan or
conspiracy to commit any of the foregoing crimes are responsible for all acts
performed by any persons in execution of such plan.
The official position of defendants,
whether as Heads of State or responsible officials in Government Departments,
shall not be considered as freeing them from responsibility or mitigating
punishment.
The fact that the Defendant acted pursuant
to order of his Government or of a superior shall not free him from
responsibility, but may be considered in mitigation of punishment if the
Tribunal determines that justice so requires.
At the trial of any individual member of
any group or organization the Tribunal may declare (in connection with any act
of which the individual may be convicted) that the group or organization of
which the individual was a member was a criminal organization.
After the receipt of the Indictment
the Tribunal shall give such notice as it thinks fit that the prosecution
intends to ask the Tribunal to make such declaration and any member of the
organization will be entitled to apply to the Tribunal for leave to be heard by
the Tribunal upon the question of the criminal character of the organization. The
Tribunal shall have power to allow or reject the application. If the
application is allowed, the Tribunal may direct in what manner the applicants
shall be represented and heard.
In cases where a group or organization is
declared criminal by the Tribunal, the competent national authority of any
Signatory shall have the right to bring individual to trial for membership
therein before national, military or occupation courts. In any such case the
criminal nature of the group or organization is considered proved and shall not
be questioned.
Any person convicted by the Tribunal may
be charged before a national, military or occupation court, referred to in Article 10
of this Charter, with a crime other than of membership in a criminal group or
organization and such court may, after convicting him, impose upon him
punishment independent of and additional to the punishment imposed by the
Tribunal for participation in the criminal activities of such group or
organization.
The Tribunal shall have the right to take
proceedings against a person charged with crimes set out in Article 6
of this Charter in his absence, if he has not been found or if the Tribunal,
for any reason, finds it necessary, in the interests of justice, to conduct the
hearing in his absence.
The Tribunal shall draw up rules
for its procedure. These rules
shall not be inconsistent with the provisions of this Charter.
Each Signatory shall appoint a Chief
Prosecutor for the investigation of the charges against and the prosecution of
major war criminals.
The Chief Prosecutors shall act as a
committee for the following purposes:
(a) to agree upon a plan of the individual work of each
of the Chief Prosecutors and his staff,
(b) to settle the final designation of major war
criminals to be tried by the Tribunal,
(c) to approve the Indictment
and the documents to be submitted therewith,
(d) to lodge the Indictment
and the accompany documents with the Tribunal,
(e) to draw up and recommend to the Tribunal for its
approval draft rules of procedure, contemplated by Article 13
of this Charter. The Tribunal shall have the power to accept, with or without
amendments, or to reject, the rules so recommended.
The Committee shall act in all the above
matters by a majority vote and shall appoint a Chairman as may be convenient
and in accordance with the principle of rotation: provided that if there is an
equal division of vote concerning the designation of a Defendant to be tried by
the Tribunal, or the crimes with which he shall be charged, that proposal will
be adopted which was made by the party which proposed that the particular Defendant
be tried, or the particular charges be preferred against him.
The Chief Prosecutors shall individually,
and acting in collaboration with one another, also undertake the following
duties:
(a) investigation, collection and production before or at
the Trial of all necessary evidence,
(b) the preparation of the Indictment
for approval by the Committee in accordance with paragraph (c) of Article 14 hereof,
(c) the preliminary examination of all necessary
witnesses and of all Defendants,
(d) to act as prosecutor at the Trial,
(e) to appoint representatives to carry out such duties
as may be assigned them,
(f) to undertake such other matters as may appear
necessary to them for the purposes of the preparation for and conduct of the
Trial.
It is understood that no witness or
Defendant detained by the Signatory shall be taken out of the possession of
that Signatory without its assent.
In order to ensure fair trial for the
Defendants, the following procedure shall be followed:
(a) The Indictment
shall include full particulars specifying in detail the charges against the
Defendants. A copy of the Indictment
and of all the documents lodged with the Indictment, translated into a language
which he understands, shall be furnished to the Defendant at reasonable time
before the Trial.
(b) During any preliminary examination or trial of a
Defendant he will have the right to give any explanation relevant to the
charges made against him.
(c) A preliminary examination of a Defendant and his Trial
shall be conducted in, or translated into, a language which the Defendant
understands.
(d) A Defendant shall have the right to conduct his own
defense before the Tribunal or to have the assistance of Counsel.
(e) A Defendant shall have the right through himself or
through his Counsel to present evidence at the Trial in support of his defense,
and to cross-examine any witness called by the Prosecution.
The Tribunal shall have the power
(a) to summon witnesses to the Trial and to require their
attendance and testimony and to put questions to them
(b) to interrogate any Defendant,
(c) to require the production of documents and other
evidentiary material,
(d) to administer oaths to witnesses,
(e) to appoint officers for the carrying out of any task
designated by the Tribunal including the power to have evidence taken on
commission.
The Tribunal shall
(a) confine the Trial strictly to an expeditious hearing
of the cases raised by the charges,
(b) take strict measures to prevent any action which will
cause reasonable delay, and rule out irrelevant issues and statements of any
kind whatsoever,
(c) deal summarily with any contumacy, imposing
appropriate punishment, including exclusion of any Defendant or his Counsel
from some or all further proceedings, but without prejudice to the
determination of the charges.
The Tribunal shall not be bound by technical
rules of evidence. It shall adopt and apply to the greatest possible extent
expeditious and nontechnical procedure, and shall admit any evidence which it
deems to be of probative value.
The Tribunal may require to be informed of
the nature of any evidence before it is entered so that it may rule upon the
relevance thereof.
The Tribunal shall not require proof of
facts of common knowledge but shall take judicial notice thereof. It shall also
take judicial notice of official governmental documents and reports of the
United Nations, including the acts and documents of the committees set up in
the various allied countries for the investigation of war crimes, and of
records and findings of military or other Tribunals of any of the United
Nations.
The permanent seat of the Tribunal shall
be in Berlin. The first meetings of the members of the Tribunal and of the
Chief Prosecutors shall be held at Berlin in a place to be designated by the
Control Council for Germany. The first trial shall be held at Nuremberg, and
any subsequent trials shall be held at such places as the Tribunal may decide.
One or more of the Chief Prosecutors may take
part in the prosecution at each Trial. The function of any Chief Prosecutor may
be discharged by him personally, or by any person or persons authorized by him.
The function of Counsel for a Defendant
may be discharged at the Defendant's request by any Counsel professionally
qualified to conduct cases before the Courts of his own country, or by any
other person who may be specially authorized thereto by the Tribunal.
The proceedings at the Trial shall take
the following course:
(a) The Indictment
shall be read in court.
(b) The Tribunal shall ask each Defendant whether he
pleads "guilty" or "not guilty.''
(c) The prosecution shall make an opening statement.
(d) The Tribunal shall ask the prosecution and the
defense what evidence (if any) they wish to submit to the Tribunal, and the
Tribunal shall rule upon the admissibility of any such evidence.
(e) The witnesses for the Prosecution shall be examined
and after that the witnesses for the Defense. Thereafter such rebutting
evidence as may be held by the Tribunal to be admissible shall be called by
either the Prosecution or the Defense.
(f) The Tribunal may put any question to any witness and
to any defendant, at any time.
(g) The Prosecution and the Defense shall interrogate and
may crossexamine any witnesses and any Defendant who gives testimony.
(h) The Defense shall address the court.
(i) The Prosecution shall address the court.
(j) Each Defendant may make a statement to the Tribunal.
(k) The Tribunal shall deliver judgment
and pronounce sentence.
All official documents shall be produced,
and all court proceedings conducted, in English, French and Russian, and in the
language of the Defendant. So much of the record and of the proceedings may
also be translated into the language of any country in which the Tribunal is
sitting, as the Tribunal is sitting, as the Tribunal considers desirable in the
interests of the justice and public opinion.
The judgment
of the Tribunal as to the guilt or the innocence of any Defendant shall give
the reasons on which it is based, and shall be final and not subject to review.
The Tribunal shall have the right to
impose upon a Defendant, on conviction, death or such other punishment as shall
be determined by it to be just.
In addition to any punishment imposed by
it, the Tribunal shall have the right to deprive the convicted person of any
stolen property and order its delivery to the Control Council for Germany.
In case of guilt, sentences shall be
carried out in accordance with the orders of the Control Council for Germany,
which may at any time reduce or otherwise alter the sentences, but may not
increase the severity thereof. If the Control Council for Germany, after any
Defendant has been convicted and sentenced, discovers fresh evidence which, in
its opinion, would found a fresh charge against him, the Council shall report
accordingly to the Committee established under Article 14
hereof, for such action as they may consider proper, having regard to the
interests of justice.
The expenses of the Tribunal and of the
Trials, shall be charged by the Signatories against the funds allotted for
maintenance of the Control Council of Germany.