Charter of the
International
Military Tribunal
Whereas the United Nations have from time to time made declarations of their intention
that war criminals shall be brought to justice;
And whereas the Moscow Declaration of the 30th October 1943 on German atrocities in
occupied Europe stated that those German officers and men and members of the Nazi party
who have been responsible for or have taken a consenting part in atrocities and crimes
will be sent back to the countries in which their abominable deeds were done in order that
they may be judged and punished according to the laws of these liberated countries and of
the free governments that will be created therein;
And whereas this declaration was stated to be without prejudice to the case of major
criminals whose offenses have no particular geographic location and who will be punished
by the joint decision of the Governments of the Allies;
Now, therefore, 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
(hereinafter called "the signatories") acting in the interests of all the United
Nations and by their representatives duly authorized thereto have concluded this
agreement.
I. Constitution of the International
Military Tribunal
Article 1
In pursuance of the Agreement signed on 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.
Article 2
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.
Article 3
Neither the Tribunal, its members nor their
alternates can be challenges by the prosecution, or by the
defendants or their Counsel. Each Signatory may replace its
member 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 that trial, or as 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 the 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.
Article 5
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.
II. Jurisdiction and General
Principles
Article 6
The Tribunal establishment by the Agreement
referred to in 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 wars 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 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 persecution 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 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.
Article 7
The official position of the defendants, whether
as Heads of State or responsible officials in Government
Departments, shall not be considered as freeing them from
responsibility or mitigating punishment.
Article 8
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 determine that justice so
requires.
Article 9
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 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.
Article 10
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
individuals 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.
Article 11
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 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.
Article 12
The Tribunal shall have the right to take
proceedings against a person charges 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.
Article 13
The Tribunal shall draw up rules for its
procedure. These rules shall not be inconsistent with the
provisions of this Charter.
III. Committee for the Investigation
and Prosecution of Major War Criminals
Article 14
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:
(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 accompanying documents,
(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 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.
Article 15
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 the Defendants,
(d) to act as prosecutor at the Trial,
(e) to appoint representatives to carry out such duties as may be assigned to 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
any Signatory shall be taken out of the possession of that
Signatory without its assent.
IV. FAIR TRIAL FOR DEFENDANTS
Article 16
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 a reasonable time before the Trial.
(b) During any preliminary examination or trial of a Defendant he shall 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.
V. POWERS OF THE TRIBUNAL AND CONDUCT
OF THE TRIAL
Article 17
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 document 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.
Article 18
The Tribunal shall
(a) confine the Trial strictly to an expeditious hearing of the issues raised by the charges,
(b) take strict measures to prevent any action which will cause unreasonable 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.
Article 19
The Tribunal shall not be bound by technical
rules of evidence. It shall adopt and apply to the greatest
possible extent expeditious and non-technical procedure, and
shall admit any evidence which it deems to have probative
value.
Article 20
The Tribunal may require to be informed of the
nature of any evidence before it is offered so that it may
rule upon the relevance thereof.
Article 21
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 committees set up in the various
allied countries for the investigation of war crimes, and
the records and findings of military or other Tribunals of
any of the United Nations.
Article 22
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 Nurnberg, and any
subsequent trials shall be held at such places as the
Tribunal may decide.
Article 23
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 Defendants 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.
Article 24
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 defence 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 cross-examine 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.
Article 25
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 record and of the proceedings may also
be translated into the language of any country in which the
Tribunal is sitting, as the Tribunal considers desirable in
the interests of justice and public opinion.
VI. JUDGMENT AND SENTENCE
Article 26
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.
Article 27
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.
Article 28
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.
Article 29
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.
VII. EXPENSES
Article 30
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 for Germany.
PROTOCOL
Whereas an Agreement and Charter regarding the Prosecution
of War Criminals was signed in London on 8th August 1945 in
the English, French and Russian languages.
And whereas a discrepancy has been found to exist between
the originals of Article 6, paragraph (c), of the Charter in
the Russian language, on the one hand, and the originals in
the English and French languages, on the other, to wit, the
semi-colon in Article 6, paragraph (c), of the Charter
between the words "war" and or, as carried in the English
and French texts, is a comma in the Russian text.
And whereas it is desired to rectify this discrepancy:
NOW, THEREFORE, the undersigned, signatories of the said
agreement on behalf of their respective Governments, duly
authorized thereto, have agreed that Article 6, paragraph
(c), of the Charter in the Russian text is correct, and that
the meaning and intention of the Agreement
and Charter require that the said semicolon in the English
text should be changed to a comma, and French text should be
amended to read as follows
(c) LES CRIMES CONTRE L'HUMANITE- c'est a dire l'assassinat, l'extermination, la reduction en esc
avage, la deportation, et tout autre acte inhumain commis contre toutes populations civile, avant ou
pendant la guerre, ou bien les persecutions pour des motifs politiques, raciaux, ou religieux, lorsque ces
aete ou persecution, qu'ils aient constitue ou non une violation du droit interne du pays ou ils ont ete
perpetres, ont ete commi a la uite de tout crime rentrant dans la competence du Tribunal, ou en liaison
avec ce crime.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF the Undersigned have signed the present
Protocol.
DONE in quadruplicate in Berlin this 6th day of October,
1945, each in English, French, and Russian, and each text to
have equal authenticity.
For the Government of the United States of America
/s/ ROBERT H. JACKSON
For the Provisional Government of the French Republic
/s/ FRANCOIS de MENTHON
For the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Northern Ireland
/s/ HARTLEY SHAWCROSS
For the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics
/s/ R. RUDENKO |