SUPPLEMENTARY STATEMENT OF
THE UNITED STATES PROSECUTION
MEMORANDUM FILED BY THE UNITED STATES CHIEF OF
COUNSEL TO THE INTERNATIONAL MILITARY TRIBUNAL
The United States, by its Chief of Counsel, respectfully shows:
The order of the Tribunal, that "The charges in the
Indictment against Gustav Krupp von Bohlen shall be retained upon the
docket of the Tribunal for trial hereafter, if the physical and
mental condition of the defendant should permit," requires the
United States to make clear its attitude toward subsequent trials,
which may have been misapprehended by the Tribunal, in order that no
inference be drawn from its silence.
The United States never has committed itself to participate in
any Four Power trial except the one now pending. The purpose of
accusing organizations and groups as criminal was to reach, through
subsequent and more expeditious trials before Military Government or
military courts, a large number of persons. According to estimates of
the United States Army, a finding that the organizations presently
accused are criminal organizations would result in the trial of
approximately 130,000 persons now held in the custody of the United
States Army; and I am uninformed as to those held by others. It has
been the great purpose of the United States from the beginning to
bring into this one trial all that is necessary by way of defendants
and evidence to reach the large number of persons responsible for the
crimes charged without going over the entire evidence again. We,
therefore, desire that it be a matter of record that the United
States has not been, and is not by this order, committed to
participate in any subsequent Four Power trial. It reserves freedom
to determine that question after the capacity to handle one trial
under difficult conditions has been tested.
Respectfully submitted:
s / ROBERT H. JACKSON
Chief of Counsel for the United States
Certified a true copy:
/ s / R. L. MORGAN
Major, GSC